Opinion: In today’s pages
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A new poll [pdf] from WorldPublicOpinion.org caught the editorial board’s eye today with its conclusion that allied Muslim majority countries still don’t think too highly of the U.S.:
More alarming is the support among citizens of allied countries for attacking U.S. troops in Iraq. That includes 91% of those polled in Egypt, 68% in Morocco, 35% in Pakistan and 19% in Indonesia.... Many apparently rationalize their support for Al Qaeda by concluding that it wasn’t behind 9/11. Despite Bin Laden’s televised boasting, fewer than one in four surveyed — and just 2% of Pakistanis — say they think that Al Qaeda masterminded the attacks. This depressing landscape suggests a steep uphill climb for the United States.
The board also argues that it’s common sense to give passengers in cars the same 4th Amendment rights as drivers, and volunteers to clean up brush if Caltrans won’t do it.
On the op-ed pages, columnist Ronald Brownstein compares President Bush to a polar bear, Doug Kaplan says developers don’t need extra money, and former New York Times Asia correspondent Barbara Crossette writes that not everyone wants democracy, including the Bhutanese. From Baghdad, Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, commander of the multinational corps, writes in defense of security barriers.
Letter writers chime in on the Baghdad barriers, and most aren’t happy about them -- for R. Donald Snyder, they’re not far off from the Jewish ghettos of World War II: ‘Wall off all of the Sunnis into one area of the city where they are easier to exterminate?’