Wed, May 23, 2007 page7

• Most US Muslims critical of extremism: poll

  SKEPTICAL In other findings, only one in four Muslim-Americans believed that the US fight against terrorism was a sincere attempt to curtail international terrorism

  • AP
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  One in four younger US Muslims say suicide bombings to defend their religion are acceptable at least in some circumstances, though most Muslim-Americans overwhelmingly reject the tactic and are critical of Islamic extremism and al-Qaeda, a poll says.

  The survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, one of the most exhaustive ever of the country's Muslims, revealed a community that in many ways blends comfortably into society. Its largely mainstream members express nearly as much happiness with their lives and communities as the general public does, show a broad willingness to adopt US customs, and have income and education levels similar to others in the US.

  Even so, the survey revealed noteworthy pockets of discontent.

  While nearly 80 percent of US Muslims said suicide bombings of civilians to defend Islam cannot be justified, 13 percent said they can be at least rarely justified.

  That sentiment is strongest among those younger than 30. Two percent of them said it can often be justified, 13 percent said sometimes and 11 percent said rarely.

  "It is a hair-raising number," said Radwan Masmoudi, president of the Washington-based Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy, which promotes the compatibility of Islam with democracy.

  Andrew Kohut, Pew director, called support for the attacks "one of the few trouble spots" in the survey.

  The question did not specify where a suicide attack might occur, who might carry it out or what was meant by using a bombing to "defend Islam."

  Masmoudi said most supporters of the attacks likely assumed the context was a fight against occupation, -- a term often used to describe the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

  US Muslims have growing Internet and television access to extreme ideologies, he said, adding: "People, especially younger people, are susceptible to these ideas."

  Federal officials have warned that the US must be on guard against homegrown terrorism, as the British suffered with the London transit bombings of 2005.

  Even so, US Muslims are far less accepting of suicide attacks than Muslims in many other nations. In surveys Pew conducted last year, support in some Muslim countries exceeded 50 percent, while it was considered justifiable by about one in four Muslims in Britain and Spain, and one in three in France.

  "We have crazies just like other faiths have them," said Eide Alawan, who directs interfaith outreach at the Islamic Center of America in Michigan, one of the nation's largest mosques.

  He said killing innocent people contradicts Islam.

  In other findings, 5 percent of US Muslims expressed favorable views of the terrorist group al-Qaeda. One-fourth did not express an opinion.

  Six in 10 said they were concerned about a rise in Islamic extremism in the US, while three in four expressed similar worries about extremism around the world.

  One in four considered the US fight against terrorism a sincere attempt to curtail international terror. Only 40 percent said they believed Arab men carried out the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

  By six to one, respondents said the US was wrong to invade Iraq, while a third said the same about Afghanistan -- far deeper than the opposition expressed by the general US public.

  Just over half said it has been harder being a US Muslim since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, especially the better educated, better paid, more religious and young. Nearly a third of those who flew in the past year said they had undergone extra screening because they are Muslim.

  The survey estimates there are approximately 2.35 million Muslim-Americans. It found that among adults, two-thirds are from abroad while a fifth are US-born blacks.

  By law, the Census Bureau does not ask about a person's religion.

  Telephone interviews were conducted with 1,050 Muslim adults from January through last month.
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