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French Version of Freedom the Best, Say Middle East Arabs
Nathan Burchfiel
Correspondent
(CNSNews.com) - Almost half of the Middle East's Arab population views France as the world's best model for freedom and democracy, according to a poll released Friday by the University of Maryland and Zogby International.
The university's Sadat Chair for Peace and Development worked with the polling company to question more than 3,600 Arabs in October. It found that 45 percent of Arabs in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates think France is a better model of freedom than Germany, the United States, Great Britain or Sweden.
Only 14 percent of respondents listed the United States as the country with the "most freedom and democracy for their own people."
Twenty-one percent of those surveyed said they would prefer that France be the world's only superpower. China came in second with 13 percent. Six percent said the United States should be the only superpower.
When asked to name the two countries that posed the "biggest threat" to their wellbeing, 70 percent of Arabs named Israel and 63 percent named the United States.
The poll also focused on the perception among Arabs to the war in Iraq and the United States' motives in removing Saddam Hussein from power.
Seventy-seven percent of Arabs said they felt that Iraqis were "worse off" after the war than they were before the March 2003 attack. Seventy-six percent said they believed America's work in the Middle East was based on oil, while 69 percent stated that they "do not believe [spreading] democracy is a real objective."
Eighty percent of those polled said their opinions of the United States are based on American foreign policy, not on American values.
The majority of Arabs who sympathize with al Qaeda appreciate that the terrorist organization "confronts the U.S." But only seven percent approve of its "methods of operations" and six percent of its goal "to create [an] Islamic state."
Make media inquiries or request an interview with Nathan Burchfiel.
Subscribe to the free CNSNews.com daily E-brief.
E-mail a comment or news tip to Nathan Burchfiel.
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The university's Sadat Chair for Peace and Development worked with the polling company to question more than 3,600 Arabs in October. It found that 45 percent of Arabs in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates think France is a better model of freedom than Germany, the United States, Great Britain or Sweden.
Only 14 percent of respondents listed the United States as the country with the "most freedom and democracy for their own people."
Twenty-one percent of those surveyed said they would prefer that France be the world's only superpower. China came in second with 13 percent. Six percent said the United States should be the only superpower.
When asked to name the two countries that posed the "biggest threat" to their wellbeing, 70 percent of Arabs named Israel and 63 percent named the United States.
The poll also focused on the perception among Arabs to the war in Iraq and the United States' motives in removing Saddam Hussein from power.
Seventy-seven percent of Arabs said they felt that Iraqis were "worse off" after the war than they were before the March 2003 attack. Seventy-six percent said they believed America's work in the Middle East was based on oil, while 69 percent stated that they "do not believe [spreading] democracy is a real objective."
Eighty percent of those polled said their opinions of the United States are based on American foreign policy, not on American values.
The majority of Arabs who sympathize with al Qaeda appreciate that the terrorist organization "confronts the U.S." But only seven percent approve of its "methods of operations" and six percent of its goal "to create [an] Islamic state."
Make media inquiries or request an interview with Nathan Burchfiel.
Subscribe to the free CNSNews.com daily E-brief.
E-mail a comment or news tip to Nathan Burchfiel.
Send a Letter to the Editor about this article.
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