Thursday,
September 11, 2008
Sept 11 World
Trade Towers
Attack: Europe and World Cynical About
Perpetrators
Survey
of 16,063 people in 17
nations found majorities in only nine countries believe al Qaeda was behind the
attacks on New York and Washington that killed
about 3,000 people in 2001.
On average, 46
percent of those surveyed said al
Qaeda was responsible, 15 percent said the U.S.A.,
7 percent said Israel
and 7 percent said some other perpetrator. One in four people did not know who.
In Europe, The U.S. government was to blame, according to 23
percent of Germans and 15 percent of Italians.
The survey was
conducted by WorldPublicOpinion.org, managed by the Program on International
Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland in the USA.
No Consensus on Who was Behind
Sept 11 - Global Poll
Thursday
September, 11, 2008
WASHINGTON
(Reuters) - Seven years after the Sept. 11 attacks, there is no consensus
outside the United States
that Islamist militants from al Qaeda were responsible, according to an
international poll published on Wednesday.
The survey of 16,063 people in 17 nations found majorities
in only nine countries believe al Qaeda was behind the attacks on New York and Washington
that killed about 3,000 people in 2001.
U.S. officials squarely blame
al Qaeda, whose leader Osama bin Laden has boasted of organizing the suicide
attacks by his followers using hijacked commercial airliners.
On average, 46 percent of those surveyed said al Qaeda was
responsible, 15 percent said the U.S.
government, 7 percent said Israel
and 7 percent said some other perpetrator. One in four people said they did not
know who was behind the attacks.
The poll was conducted by WorldPublicOpinion.org, a
collaborative project of research centers in various countries managed by the
Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University
of Maryland in the United States.
In Europe, al Qaeda was
cited by 56 percent of Britons and Italians, 63 percent of French and 64
percent of Germans. The U.S.
government was to blame, according to 23 percent of Germans and 15 percent of
Italians.
Respondents in the Middle East
were especially likely to name a perpetrator other than al Qaeda, the poll
found.
Israel was behind the attacks,
said 43 percent of people in Egypt,
31 percent in Jordan and 19
percent in the Palestinian
Territories. The U.S. government
was blamed by 36 percent of Turks and 27 percent of Palestinians.
In Mexico,
30 percent cited the U.S.
government and 33 percent named al Qaeda.
The only countries with overwhelming majorities blaming al
Qaeda were Kenya with 77
percent and Nigeria
with 71 percent.
Interviews were conducted in China,
Indonesia, Nigeria, Russia,
Egypt, France, Germany,
Britain, Italy, Jordan,
Kenya, Mexico, the Palestinian
Territories, South Korea, Taiwan,
Turkey and Ukraine.
The poll, taken between July 15 and Aug. 31, had a margin of
error of plus or minus 3 to 4 percent.
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