British Muslims against the war
Only one in seven British Muslims backs the military action in Afghanistan, according to a survey conducted for the BBC's Today programme. Four out of five say that Britain and the United States were wrong to launch a bombing campaign.
However, a mere two per cent say the initial terrorist attacks against New York and Washington were "completely justified". A further 13 per cent say it was "somewhat justified"; 81 per cent think it was not justified at all.
In the first properly conducted poll of this crisis of Britain's Muslim community, ICM interviewed 500 Muslims across Britain by telephone. Views are broadly similar across all demographic groups, with men and women, old and young, and workingclass and middle-class Muslims thinking alike.
Key to the community's majority opposition to the military campaign is its unwillingness to accept that Osama bin Laden is guilty of organising the 11 September attacks. Only 21 per cent think the US is justified in blaming him; 67 per cent disagree.
Only 34 per cent agree with Tony Blair and President Bush when they say theirs is not "a war against Islam". Fifty-seven per cent disagree. As many as 76 per cent think the military action should "stop now". Seven per cent think it should continue until Bin Laden has been killed or captured, while a further 12 per cent think it should continue until the Taliban regime has been removed from power.
The poll suggests that most British Muslims who oppose military action would back non-military measures to defeat the terrorists. Four out of 10 Muslims who oppose military action say they would have backed it had it been given "specific" UN approval.
