The Gallup polling company published the result of its poll on April 7 on the eve of the anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq twenty years ago, which Washington justified on democratization grounds. While the US has long been portraying itself as an advocate for democracy, especially in war-torn Iraq, Iraqis, and residents of 12 other Muslim-majority nations do not view the US as serious about encouraging the development of democracy in the region, nor allowing people to fashion their own political future as they see fit, according to the Gallup poll.
The poll, conducted in 2022 in 13 Muslim countries, centers on how Muslims in these countries view US commitments to democracy, self-determination, and economic improvement. An overwhelming majority of respondents called into question US commitments to the three categories.
And in all the categories, Iranians stand atop in terms of distrusting the United States. Only 9% percent of Iranian respondents said they trust the US commitment to democracy while 81% of them said the US is not serious about democracy.
Iranians’ perception of US commitment to self-determination is similar to that of democracy with 80% of Iranians saying that the US will not allow them to fashion their own political future.
Lastly, 82% of Iranian respondents said the US is not serious about improving their economic lot.
The result of the Gallup poll stands in stark contrast to what the US promulgated against Iran. The US media has long been portraying Iranians as embracing pro-Western values and opinions. Even more so, they have been spreading allegations of a schism between the state and society in Iran.
This has been on full display during the months-long wave of protests that gripped Iran in the wake of the death of Mahsa Amini. The US and its allies went so far as to publicly advocate regime change in Iran on account of the alleged crackdown on protestors.
But the Gallup poll showed the opposite. It confirmed that the Iranian people overwhelmingly oppose the policies of the United States as do their peers in other Muslim countries. At the end of the day, the US has not been fair to the Muslim world.
Pundits believe that Iranians from all walks of life may well be discontent with their economic lot, but they know that their hardships are mainly due to US sanctions, which have done so much damage to the lives of Iranians.
And US' reputation among other Muslim countries is not enviable. Just over one in four Iraqis surveyed in 2022 agreed with the statement that the US is serious about encouraging the establishment of democratic systems in their region, according to Gallup. In Afghanistan, a nation invaded two years before Iraq for different reasons but where promoting democracy was also a key US stated aim, 14% agreed that the US was serious about it.
By: Faramarz Kuhpayeh
First published in Tehran Time