Speaking of Arabs, here is the sort of survey never done by Arab governments:
May 27, 2005: What do Arabs really think about the problems that afflict them, and how is this related to the issues Islamic terrorists are fighting and dying (and killing) for? A recent "Opinion Survey of the Arab Street 2005", conducted by Al Arabiya news network, provides some interesting answers. The survey sought to see what Arabs thought about the relative lack of economic progress in the Arab world. In answer to the question, “What is stalling development in the Arab world?,” 81 percent chose "Governments are unwilling to implement change and reform." Eight percent cited "The ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict," while seven percent selected "Civil society is failing to convince governments", and 4 percent chose "Terrorism".
Another question, "What is the fastest way to achieve development in the Arab world?", had 67 percent choosing "Ensuring the rule of law through justice and law enforcement", 23 percent chose "Enhancing freedom of speech", and 10 percent chose "Resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict".
Islamic terrorists represent a small minority of Arab thinking, and interests. But most Arab media and governments, for obvious reasons, avoid the “bad government” issues and instead concentrate on the Arab-Israeli conflict as the cause of all that is bad in the Arab world. While few Arab governments support all Islamic terrorists, many support some (like the Palestinian terrorists, or Hizbollah in Lebanon). An Arab government will support terrorists as long as there are no terrorist attacks against themselves, and the terrorists are working against the government’s enemies. Syria has played this game enthusiastically, perhaps too much so, for decades. By getting behind terrorism and hostility towards Israel, Arab dictatorships believe this will distract their people from problems closer to home. But this ploy is working less well of late. The invasion of Iraq in 2003, the forcible removal of an Arab dictator and enthusiastic participation in democratic elections has terrified Arab despots throughout the Middle East. The Islamic terrorists are generally hostile to Arab dictators, but have made deals with the devil in order to survive. Increasingly, Arab people are fed up with the tyrants and terrorists, and are willing to do something about it.
May 22, 2005: Dominated by relatively conservative Moslems, Mauritania has had a poor human rights record, and been the object of considerable Western pressure for its tolerance of slavery, forcible Arabization of non-Moslem populations, and tolerance for Islamist organizations, who have recruited and collected funds in the country. Of late, however, the government has been cracking down on at least some of the Islamists, particularly foreign ones. The resident alien leaders of several Islamist organizations have been detained, and in some cases apparently quietly turned over to other countries. This change in attitude may be prompted by a fear that foreign Islamists could threaten the current ruling clique, and also as a way to improve relations with the West.
This is a common situation in the Islamic world. There are few democratic governments, dictatorships and monarchies being more common. Islamic radicals are not fans of democracies, but are also opposed to the monarchs and dictators that currently rule. While both the tyrants and Islamic radicals agree on hating the West, and particularly the United States, they are also enemies of each other. The West is seen as “the cause” of the poverty and backwardness of the Islamic world, while the Islamic radicals see the non-Moslem west as a pool of current enemies, and potential converts to Islam. But where the Islamic radicals live, they are a definite threat to the local government.
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