That’s the gist of a recent survey of college-educated men and women in Egypt, Morocco and Indonesia.

Anti-American feelings are widespread in the Muslim world and extend to U.S. consumer brands, according to a report released Wednesday. It suggested the U.S. burnish its image with a change in tone and by publicizing aid programs.

But as blogger Mike A. at Probably Correct, who pointed me to the survey, observes, that’s “[j]ust exactly opposite [of] what the UN told the US last December, when we rushed to the aid of tsunami survivors and were criticized by the UN for not giving them sufficient credit…” Exactly. Damned if you do…

More survey results:

Many young Muslims said they admired Osama bin Laden, while views of President Bush were uniformly negative. All focus group members rejected U.S. views of the war in Iraq, saying the United States invaded on a false premise to further its own regional goals.

And this:

When asked specifically what the United States should do, very few in Cairo, Jakarta, or Casablanca called for U.S. withdrawal from the Muslim world. The angriest—mostly men and Egyptians—wanted to tell President Bush, “Leave us alone,” but not many took this position. Despite the rhetorical support for American withdrawal from the Muslim world earlier in the conversations, almost none actually endorsed the idea later when they were asked what actions President Bush should take regarding their countries. The bottom line for most was the combination of American aid with respect for their autonomy. A young Moroccan woman summed up their views: “Dear President Bush: We really need financial aid, but you should not get involved in everything.”

Translation: We hate you. Now give us more money.

But we’ll still hate you.

Full report in PDF here.

comments (0)   trackbacks (8)