|
A vast majority of Muslims in America feel the use of force in
Iraq was wrong -- even more so than the general public, according
to survey results -- but some say a continued U.S. presence is
necessary for stability.
The most recent Pew
Research Center survey on the subject, published May 22, found
that 75 percent of Muslim Americans said the U.S. use of military
force in Iraq was wrong, compared to 47 percent of the general
public.
 Farid
Senzai, director of research for the Institute for Social Policy
and Understanding, helped advise Pew on its survey. He said Muslim-Americans
in general saw a disconnect between the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist
attacks and the invasion of Iraq, even though the war on terrorism
was one of the main reasons the Bush administration gave for going
to war in Iraq.
Muslims recognized that al-Qaida, the self-proclaimed perpetrator
of the Sept. 11 attacks, was a religious network that wouldn't
want to affiliate itself with former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein,
who was a member of the secular Baathist Party, said Senzai.
Most Muslims in America and in other parts of the world believe
terrorism would be better addressed through political options
rather than military might, he added.
A survey of Muslim American voters conducted last year by the
Council on American-Islamic Relations also found that the majority
of both Sunnis and Shias thought the war in Iraq was a bad choice
for the United States, though the percentage was slightly higher
among Sunnis.
Responding to the statement "the war in Iraq has been worthwhile
for America," 69 percent of Sunnis and 64 percent of Shias
disagreed or disagreed strongly.
"I was against the war since day one," said Shadi Hamid,
research director for the Project on Middle East Democracy. However,
he said his stance did temporarily soften during the Iraqi National
Assembly elections in January 2005.
Hamid was living in Jordan at the time and saw the television
images of Iraqis casting their votes for the first time, possibly
risking their lives from armed groups who had threatened to attack
polling stations.
"I thought to myself maybe things will work out after all,"
he said. "It's amazing how far we've come from that moment
of hope to now."
Hamid said under the Bush administration, with its emphasis on
military force, there is little chance of success. Rather, pressure
should be put on the Iraqi government to be inclusive of different
factions and push for a true national reconciliation program,
he said.
Conversely, the Pew survey found that about 12 percent of Muslim
Americans said invading Iraq was the right thing to do, while
about 45 percent of the general public agreed with the invasion.
One such supporter, Salim Mansur, associate professor of political
science at the University of Western Ontario in Canada, said he
backed the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq from the beginning for the
same reasons that prompted the landslide passage of the Iraq Liberation
Act of 1998.
That law said the United States should seek to remove Saddam
from power because of his regime's human rights violations and
use of poison gas against Kurds, among other reasons, and replace
him with a democratic government.
"I supported President Bush and his decision to bring about
regime change. Do I still support it? My view remains yes,"
Mansur said.
But he said the mood in America has changed, as evidenced by
the November 2006 elections that swept Democrats to power in the
House and Senate, and now many people want to bring back the troops.
However, he said any withdrawal from Iraq would be "disastrous"
not only for the war, but for the war on terror and the stabilization
of the Middle East.
The United States, instead, should stand by Iraq as it did Germany
and Japan after World War II to help it transition from dictatorship
to democracy and rebuild, according to Mansur. In those cases,
as in Iraq, it will take time, maybe even a generation, he said.
"Changes don't happen on a flip of a coin," as evidenced
by the United States' own struggle for democracy and outbreak
of civil war after gaining independence, he said.
Hamid, on the other hand, said a partial troop withdrawal would
help push Iraqis toward a more stable democracy, but he said a
smaller force should remain to support Iraqi security forces,
prevent genocide between sectarian groups and fight al-Qaida.
"We have a responsibility and moral obligation to support
democracy in Iraq in the long run," he added.
The Pew Research Center used a sample of 1,050 Muslims living
in the United States for its survey. About 65 percent were born
in other countries, including Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, South Asia,
Iran, Europe and Africa, and 35 percent were born in the United
States.
-- By Larisa Epatko, Online NewsHour
| 
