[The Decider]

Quote by: fushigi Most of the polls are pretty old, but these three suggest that al Qaeda had more support than the US in the Middle East: CNN.com - Poll of Saudis shows wide support for bin Laden's views - Jun 8, 2004 US Admits the War for ‘Hearts and Minds’ in Iraq is Now Lost BBC NEWS | Americas | US 'losing media war to al-Qaeda' It does appear that support for al Qaeda has declined dramatically in Pakistan and Jordan. I'm not sure about Iran, Syria, Palestine, and Afghanistan. Have you seen any reports?

Here's the latest poll from Iran. Shiites, of course, have no reason to like a Wahhabi Sunni zealot like bin Laden. And Iranians absolutely hate the Taliban. It was the Taliban who executed several Iranian diplomats, probably on orders of bin Laden or Pakistani intelligence services.

World Public Opinion

The remaining support given to bin Laden is mostly political. They like some of the things he says, especially in opposition to Israel and American involvement in the Middle East. But the support ends on the question of terror. The previous link shows a large majority of Muslims in the world opposed to Al Qaeda's tactics, principally because they are costing the lives of many Muslims or embarrassing Muslim nations. Indonesia, for example, suffered greatly from the AQ-sponsored bombings in Bali. Osama has little following in Indonesia, the most populous Muslim nation in the world.