The Gulf Times of Doha, Qatar reports:
A YOUGOV poll commissioned by the Doha Debates has concluded that nearly one-third of all Arabs believe that Saudi Arabia is at greater risk from religious extremism than any other country in the world. . . Asked under what conditions violence is permissible, more than 60% cited Western interference in a Muslim country, while 55% said offensive words or behaviour was a trigger.
(Via LGF.) (Warning: I don’t know if the Gulf Times is at all respectable (their website certainly isn’t very professional), so take this with a grain of salt.)
Let me parse this result. In this poll, only 5% more said that Western interference justifies violence than said that offensive speech justifies violence. Given that we in the West deeply believe in free speech, I think this gives us a useful benchmark for how seriously to take complaints about “Western interference.” That is, we can debate whether we should be in Iraq on its own terms, but leaving to placate Arabs is sheer foolishness, since our presence in Iraq is only barely more offensive to them than our free speech.
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