Negative Perception Of Islam Increasing

WaPo reports As the war in Iraq grinds into its fourth year,

What does that have to do with it?

a growing proportion of Americans are expressing unfavorable views of Islam,

What favorable views of Islam have we been presented with?

and a majority now say that Muslims are disproportionately prone to violence,

I wonder if the riots, killings, and burning of embassies (and KFC Chicken stores) because of a few cartoons being printed in Europe had anything to do with that.

according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

The poll found that nearly half of Americans -- 46 percent -- have a negative view of Islam,

And the other half have not been paying attention.

seven percentage points higher than in the tense months after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, when Muslims were often targeted for violence.

But when there were many of us counseling caution, because we knew that all Muslims were not like the ones that flew the planes. And had the moderate ones stood up to the extremists a few more times in the past four or five years, more would be on their side.