RELEASE: The Terrorism Index
Majority of America’s Foreign-Policy Experts Now Say That the Troop Surge Is Failing in Iraq, Call for a U.S. Troop Withdrawal in 18 Months - Pakistan Most Likely Country to Become Stronghold for al Qaeda; Russia is Least Valuable U.S. Ally
A majority of America’s foreign-policy experts now hold a negative view of the White House’s “troop surge” strategy in Iraq, and two thirds support a redeployment of troops in the next 18 months, according to a bipartisan survey produced by Foreign Policy magazine and the Center for American Progress.
The third Foreign Policy/Center for American Progress Terrorism Index—published in the September/October issue of Foreign Policy magazine and available today at www.ForeignPolicy.com and www.AmericanProgress.org—is the first comprehensive attempt to determine the American foreign-policy establishment’s assessment of how the
Of the more than 100 foreign-policy experts (both liberals and conservatives) surveyed, 53 percent now say that the surge is having a negative impact—an increase of 22 percentage points in just the past six months. Nearly all of the experts (92 percent) believe that the war in
A bipartisan majority (68 percent) now say that the
Overall, nearly all of the experts (91 percent) say that the world is becoming more dangerous for Americans and report that the country is not winning the war on terror (84 percent). More than 80 percent predict a 9/11-scale terrorist attack on the
But when the experts were asked to name the ally that least serves
For complete survey results, methodology, list of participants, and experts available for comment, visit www.ForeignPolicy.com and www.AmericanProgress.org.
About the Foreign Policy/Center for American Progress Terrorism Index
The Terrorism Index is survey of more than 100 of America’s top foreign-policy experts—including two former secretaries of state, a national security advisor, intelligence officers, and senior military leaders—and represents the first comprehensive attempt to determine the U.S. foreign-policy establishment’s assessment of how the United States is fighting the war on terror.
The index is based on the results of a survey designed by the Center for American Progress and Foreign Policy. Participants in the survey were selected by Foreign Policy and the Center for American Progress for their expertise in terrorism and
The nonscientific survey was administered online from May 23-June 26, 2007. Respondents were asked to self-identify their ideological bias from choices across a spectrum: very conservative, conservative, somewhat conservative, moderate, somewhat liberal, liberal, and very liberal. Twenty-five people identified themselves as some level of conservative, 39 identified as moderate, and 44 identified as some level of liberal. To ensure balance, the survey was weighted according to ideology to make the number of weighted liberal respondents equal to the number of conservative respondents. Moderate and conservative respondents remained unweighted.
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