Shifting Attitudes in the Muslim World

Michael Barone looks at the latest Pew Global Attitudes Project Report on popular opinion in the Muslim World and see's much to feel good about.

First:

support for terrorism in defense of Islam has "declined dramatically," in the Pew report's words, in Muslim countries, except in Jordan (which has a Palestinian majority) and Turkey, where support has remained a low 14 percent.

And:

Support for suicide bombings against Americans in Iraq has also declined. The percentage reporting some confidence in Osama bin Laden is now under 10 percent in Lebanon and Turkey and has fallen sharply in Indonesia.

And:

when asked whether democracy was a western way of doing things or could work well in their own country, between 77 and 83 percent in Lebanon, Morocco, Jordan, and Indonesia say it could work in their country--in each case a significant increase from earlier surveys.

Thus, even as support in the US for the war effort is waning, attitudes in the Muslim world are shifting in our favor. The ongoing terror campaign seems to be turning off Muslims just as much as it alarms Americans.

A real sea-change is taking place in Muslim attitudes.

Muslims around the world cannot help but notice that Iraq is moving, however imperfectly, toward representative government. They can't have missed the "Cedar Revolution" in Lebanon and the expulsion of Syrian forces from Beirut. They may have noticed the small concessions to democracy in Saudi Arabia.

New stakeholders. They may also have noticed that Egypt will have its first contested election for president this year. "There were no arguments over the United States, Israel, Palestine, Iraq, or any of the other 'hot spots' that used to dominate every meal and spill over into tea, coffee, and dessert," writes Mona Eltahawy in the Washington Post of her trip to Egypt this summer. "This time, all conversations were about a small but active opposition movement in Egypt that since December has focused on ending the dictatorship of President Hosni Mubarak. I have never heard so many relatives and friends take such an interest in Egyptian politics or--more important--feel that they had a stake in them." Minds are indeed changing.

And that, ultimately, is why we are in Iraq. Barone wisely observes:

[W]e are not engaged in a popularity contest. We're trying to construct a safer world. We are in the long run better off if Muslims around the world turn away from terrorism and move toward democracy, even if we don't like some of the internal policies they choose and even if they don't have much affection for the United States.

Well said! Much of the commentary surrounding the Iraqi constitutional process consists of worrying that the Iraqis will produce something less than full Western liberalism, that women's rights might be circumscribed, that there would be no wall of separation between religious and state authority, etc. But such concerns, while certainly important, are of less significance than the fact that Iraqis througout the nation and of all conditions will be taking part in the making of their own government.

Read Barone's piece here.
On the importance of political participation see here.