According to a Gallup poll conducted on February 27, 2002: “In a survey of nine Muslim countries containing about half of the world’s Muslim population the poll found half of the people questioned had unfavorable opinions of the United States, while a quarter had favorable opinions. Of those surveyed, two-thirds saw the September 11 attacks as morally unjustified, but nearly 80 percent said the U.S. military action in Afghanistan was also unjustified. And the poll found an astonishing 61 percent did not believe Arab terrorists carried out the attacks on New York and Washington! This finding is especially perplexing because no one seriously contests the fact that the hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Lebanon, and the United Emirates. Moreover, bin Laden and his aides made a series of well-publicized statements after 9/11 which left al-Qaeda’s role in the World Trade Center attacks in little doubt. Bin Laden himself has identified the hijackers as Middle Easterners; indeed from his statements it seems he may have even known some of them personally.”
– Peter Bergen, Holy War, Inc., Pages 231-232