Al-Qaida not universally blamed for 9/11

COLLEGE PARK, Md., Sept. 11 (UPI) -- The idea that al-Qaida was responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States is not universally accepted, a poll indicates.

A WorldPublicOpinion.org poll of 17 nations released Wednesday found majorities in only nine believe al-Qaida was behind the deadly attacks on the World Trade Center towers in New York, the Pentagon in Washington and a jetliner that crashed in Pennsylvania.

On average, 46 percent said al-Qaida was behind the attacks, 15 percent

cite the U.S. government, 7 percent blame Israel and 7 percent think there was another perpetrator. One in four said they don't know who was responsible.

"Given the extraordinary impact the 9/11 attacks have had on world

affairs, it is remarkable that seven years later there is no international

consensus about who was behind them," Steven Kull, director of WorldPublicOpinion.org, said.

Fifty-six percent of Britons and Italians, 63 percent of French and 64 percent of Germans believe al-Qaida was behind the attacks. But 24 percent of Germans and 36 percent of Turks cite the U.S. government, and 43 percent of Egyptians say Israel was responsible.

Kenya (77 percent) and Nigeria (71 percent) had the highest percentages blaming al-Qaida.

The poll, managed by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland, of surveyed 16,063 people July 15 to Aug. 31. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3-4 percent.

Other countries polled included China, Indonesia, Jordan, Mexico, the

Palestinian Territories, Russia, South Korea, Taiwan and

Ukraine.