Poll of Muslims raises questions
By Warren Smith
(EP News)-It could be called a tale of two surveys.  Except that it was one survey, with two very different interpretations.
The survey, done by the Pew Research Center, was a comprehensive look at Muslims in America.  And perhaps because the survey was so comprehensive, some of the data were paradoxical, if not downright contradictory, and they provided opportunities for those of all political ideologies to find something to be outraged about.
Religion News Service, for example, found that "most Muslim Americans are largely assimilated in the culture, happy with their lives and embracing the American dream." 
Former presidential candidate Gary Bauer, in an email to supporters, had a different assessment of Muslim Americans.  Bauer wrote, "A new poll of the attitudes and beliefs of American Muslims is disturbing - even to members of the American Muslim community - and should be raising serious questions among U.S. policymakers."  Bauer then cited specifics from the survey.  "Only 26 percent of U.S. Muslims believe the war on terror is a sincere effort to reduce terrorism.  Just 12 percent support the decision to invade Iraq, and only 35 percent believe we made the right decision in using military force in Afghanistan."
Bauer acknowledges that the "American public is generally divided on Iraq, but a majority of American Muslims are conflicted about going after our attackers in Afghanistan."    Bauer cited another figure from the Pew study:  "Only 40 percent of U.S. Muslims believe that Arab men carried out the September 11th attacks!"
For many conservatives, the most troubling part of the survey was the finding that one percent of Muslim Americans say suicide bombings against civilian targets are "often" justified to defend Islam.  About five percent expressed a "somewhat favorable" opinion of al-Qaida.  But among young people, those numbers went up dramatically.  About one-quarter (26 percent) of those under 18 said suicide bombings against civilian targets are often or sometimes justified.  Despite such findings, Andy Kohut of the Pew Center said, "This is a group living as most Americans live ... a group aspiring to assimilate."  He did acknowledge, however, that there were "pockets of sympathy for extremism."
The Pew study, conducted between January and April, was based on interviews with 1,050 Muslim American adults.   The Muslim American population is not known.  Estimates range from a low of 2.35-million to a high of 7-million.