Amazing what freedom, and the hope of freedom, can do
(Washington Post) Muslims around the world increasingly reject suicide bombings and other violence against civilians by those purporting to defend Islam, according to an international poll released yesterday.
A wide-ranging survey of international attitudes in 47 countries by the Pew Research Center also reported that in many of the countries where support for suicide attacks has declined, there also has been decreasing support for al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
That is good news. Organized Islamic terrorism can never be a thing of the past till Muslims reject the extremists and their ways. We can fight them, kill them, and do all in our power to stop them, but it is up to them to change their own attitudes.
The 95-page survey found that surging economic growth in many developing countries has encouraged residents to express satisfaction with their personal lives, family income and national conditions, said Andrew Kohut, the center’s director.
Hmmm, liberals are not going to like that, considering that they so often favor massive restrictions on businesses, high taxes, and all sorts of government control on economies, which have the effect of stifling an economy. And that is without even considering the massive meddling in peoples person lives and control of everything that liberals prefer. Chalk one up for the Conservative (actually, Classical Liberalism) model of freedom in the economic life.
For example, the percentage of Jordanian Muslims who have confidence in bin Laden as a world leader fell 36 percentage points to 20 percent since 2003, while the proportion who say suicide bombing is sometimes or always justified dropped 20 percentage points to 23 percent. Other countries where support for bin Laden declined are Lebanon, Indonesia, Turkey, Pakistan and Kuwait.
The report said support for suicide bombings and other terror tactics has dropped since 2002 in seven of the eight countries in which data were available. In Lebanon, the proportion of Muslims who say suicide attacks are often or sometimes justified fell to 34 percent from 79 percent, while just 9 percent of Pakistanis believe suicide bombings can be justified often or sometimes, down from 33 percent in 2002 and a high of 41 percent in 2004.
Ya know, at the time of writing this for posting later (roughly 9am), not one other major media source had any similar story. Not CNN, MSNBC, cBS, ABC, NY Times, Washington Post, etc. I wonder why? Would this not be considered good news in the GWoT? Wouldn’t it be a validation that the Bush admins policies are working? Oh. I guess I answered my own questions.
