by Steven R. Corman

Worldpublicopinon.org has just released the results of a study of world opinion about who committed the 9/11 attacks.  On average, 46% think AQ did it, 15% think we did it to ourselves, 7% think Israel did it, 7% think someone else did it, and 25% don’t know.  Here is the complete breakdown graph from the study.

To be honest I am kind of surprised these numbers are as favorable to the U.S. as they are.  Nowhere do more people think we self-mutilated than think we were attacked.  The two places that come close are Turkey and Mexico, a NATO ally and a neighbor.  Both have about twice the number of conspiracy theorists as Egypt and Jorden.  Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!

The point made by the study’s authors is that there is no plurality judgment about who is responsible.  That is in itself kind of amazing, given that bin Laden has come out and said that he and his group did the deed.  Why people seem determined to search for a complex explanation in the face of a simple one is something I’ll never understand.

Speaking of which, I’m surprised the study did not include the United States, as we have a number of folks following the so-called 9/11 Truth Movement who think President Bush (or some conspiracy of which he’s a part)  blew up the Towers.  Matt Morris, a former student and COMOPS Journal contributor, just finished a thesis here studying this group.  His theory is that some people believe the U.S. Government is omnipotent, and they think something like 9/11 could not have happened if the government didn’t actively let it happen.  So strong is this belief that they select only those facts (and distort available facts) to fit this worldview.  It would be interesting to know if the same process is afoot in the international audience studied here.  I smell a dissertation topic here, Matt.