bin laden more popular than Musharraf

bullehshah · September 12, 2007, 4:54am

****Pakistanis Oppose US Terror Hunts ****

**By ALAN FRAM – 1 hour ago **
WASHINGTON (AP) — Only a quarter of Pakistanis support their military working with U.S. forces to pursue terrorists inside Pakistan, and even fewer favor letting American forces mount such operations on their own, a poll released on Tuesday said.
In a broader measure of America’s unpopularity in its erstwhile ally against terrorism, 19 percent of Pakistanis see the U.S. favorably — half the number with a positive view of India, a bitter rival Pakistan has fought in three wars since 1947. The U.S.-backed Pakistani president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, is less popular than Osama bin Laden, though both are far better liked than President Bush.
The survey was released by Terror Free Tomorrow, a bipartisan group that seeks to reduce support for international terrorism. Its advisory board includes presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Lee Hamilton, the former Democratic congressman from Indiana who helped lead a study of White House Iraq policy last year.
Ken Ballen, the group’s president, said the poll was the most worrisome of 23 it has conducted in the Muslim world over the past three years because of the anti-American, pro-bin Laden feelings it found and the unpopularity of Musharraf, who leads the only Muslim nation with nuclear weapons.
“It’s disturbing. It’s almost like a perfect storm” of distressing findings, Ballen said.
By 49 percent to 40 percent, most Pakistanis said it is important to defeat al-Qaida, the Taliban and other terrorist groups. Most also said they support the Pakistani military on its own hunting al-Qaida and Taliban fighters inside the country.
But when it came to the U.S. launching unilateral missions against those groups inside Pakistan, only 13 percent voiced approval.
Pakistani officials have said they do not let the U.S. or others pursue militants inside their country. They objected last month when Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., a presidential contender, said he would be willing to let American forces chase terrorists in Pakistan even without its consent.
Some U.S. military officials, however, have said they do not need Pakistan’s approval for such operations near the mountainous border with Afghanistan, where bin Laden, the al-Qaida leader, and other leaders may be hiding.
By 46 percent to 26 percent, most view bin Laden favorably, including 70 percent who see him positively in the northwest province where he may have sanctuary. That compares to 37 percent in the country with favorable opinions of Musharraf, and nine percent for Bush.
In a measure of their distrust, 56 percent said the U.S. war on terrorism is driven by anti-Muslim goals like killing Muslims, taking their oil or ending their religion. Less than 10 percent suggested positive motivations like seeking global peace.
Three-fourths said suicide bombings are never or rarely justified.
**The poll took place Aug. 18-29 in urban and rural areas in all four of the country’s provinces, and involved face-to-face questioning of 1,044 adults by native Pakistani interviewers. It was conducted by D3 Systems of Vienna, Va., and the Pakistani Institute for Public Opinion.

**

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gwiVhWW3WkWgHNYUkBy95Su8IKcg

What a joke Pakistan has become. I wonder if it will take a huge terrorist attack greater than the scale of Amman on 11/9/05 to wake these stupid idiots up.

mercenary2k · September 12, 2007, 5:01am

Re: bin laden more popular than Musharraf

Just proves that pakistanis are very stupid

Mr_Fraudia · September 12, 2007, 2:33pm

Re: bin laden more popular than Musharraf

....especially in the north west frontier province, 70% of the ppl surveyes approve of OBL.

S02 · September 12, 2007, 2:50pm

Re: bin laden more popular than Musharraf

Being popular does not equal being the right choice to lead a country (current US leadership is another example).

The Achilles heel of democracy.

Cool_Breeze · September 12, 2007, 4:01pm

Re: bin laden more popular than Musharraf

These people are very much against US govt policies. they have been under attack for past few years. so even if you fix a pole/stick on the side of the road and put a note that says, "this pole is against Bush" - that pole will get all the popularity votes.

Mr_Fraudia · September 12, 2007, 4:08pm

Re: bin laden more popular than Musharraf

yeah the enemy of my enemy is my friend type of thinking is about the limits at what these clowns can reason at :)

Cool_Breeze · September 12, 2007, 4:25pm

Re: bin laden more popular than Musharraf

70 % of those who are in favor of Osama, belong to NWFP.
uneducated people - what do you expect from them

chacha_Ghalib · September 12, 2007, 4:32pm

Re: bin laden more popular than Musharraf

If there is one thing i have learned from all these polls, its not to trust them at face value. You can come up with any desired result if you frame the question a certain way. Oh yeah, another thing i don't trust is these so called health studies. One day they come up with some study saying a perticular ingredient causes cancer, after six months another team says its very gud for you and can actually reduce cancer and whole lot of other diseases. I think they're mostly done to get more funds.

Mr_Fraudia · September 12, 2007, 4:36pm

Re: bin laden more popular than Musharraf

there are uneducated people in other provinces too, so if you look at the illiteracy rate and then see this OBL approval rate you may see that it is still high.

what do I expect of them? nothing good.

Zakk · September 12, 2007, 11:52pm

Re: bin laden more popular than Musharraf

Interesting break up of the article, CJ is rated as the most favourable rating in Pakistan, followed by BB, NS & Imran are pretty close. Mush manages better than Qazi Hussain!

On a flip side overwhelmingly Pakistanis are supportive of free elections, free press and an independent judiciary. They also overwhelmingly oppose suicide bombings, hate Bush but are open to improving relations with the US.

Man_with_a_Plan · September 13, 2007, 12:47am

Re: bin laden more popular than Musharraf

Its a residue of Iraq and Afghanistan war and Musharraf is paying price for it, even though he opposed the Iraq invasion. Interesting thing is Pakistanis are more liberal than perceived. They reject Islamic radicals by long margin.

United States received high marks when it helped Pakistan during the Earthquake. The support seemed to have vanished. It just shows that winning hearts and minds campaign needs to be consistent.

bullehshah · September 13, 2007, 2:56am

Re: bin laden more popular than Musharraf

Honestly guys, would it take an Amman-style attack by al-Qaeda to get Pakistanis to turn against these people?

Remember what the Jordanians did after Zarqawi attached the Hilton hotels, murdering 55 Muslims, including Mustafa Akkad. They came out and cursed him in the hundreds of thousands.

Khehkeshan · September 13, 2007, 3:00am

Re: bin laden more popular than Musharraf

Problem is that our brainwashed populace does not believe Osama and co are behind any of these attacks.

bullehshah · September 13, 2007, 3:06am

Re: bin laden more popular than Musharraf

Well the Jordanians believed Zarqawi was behind the attacks, and they were proud supporters of Zarqawi as well.

It also helped that Zarqawi even proudly claimed responsibility for the attacks in addition to the captured woman bomber that was paraded on Jordanian TV.

mercenary2k · September 13, 2007, 5:19am

Re: bin laden more popular than Musharraf

there has already been hundreds of such attacks

remember the suicide bombing in Islamabad right after the lal mosque siege

pakistanis are just too stupid and have too much freedom

Pakistan needs a very stern dictatorship like Stalin to fix this country up

bullehshah · September 13, 2007, 5:56am

Re: bin laden more popular than Musharraf

As long as it does not bring back the days of Zia, I'm up for it.

Man_with_a_Plan · September 14, 2007, 2:00am

Re: bin laden more popular than Musharraf

I think the failure of United States in Afghanistan and Iraq has lot to do with this poll. I do not see Pakistanis suddenly hating Musharraf for him wearing uniform. It is because he has been pro-American for a long time and now when United States is on back foot, England leaving, he is on a tight spot. Moreover, people who previously were Musharraf supporters can not complain because they supported him in uniform and since '99 he has become more lenient as media and courts are free.

Musharraf's approval ratings were used to be 80% and the same time he was no different, a President wearing uniform. People did not come to streets like they do now, moreover, the activists judges were his pals who legalized his rule.

He is loosing the PR war and he has to because when you read UN report saying the sucide bombers being trained in Pakistan and Osama bin laden's rating this high, Musharraf can not appear as pro American to further erode the situation in Pakistan. Also, to appear anti-American will back fire because of the same exact reason. PR is not a problem for him, he can stay 9-5 on TV and give interviews and nail ever single one of it. He did that after 9/11, 2002 when Pakistan and India came close to war and his recent visit to America. Right now he does not even come to take pictures with American officials. Times are tough and if other leaders were in this position, I doubt they could do better.