WASHINGTON: The devastating terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon have spurred a “new internationalist sentiment” in the US public, as well as much greater support for a strong military, including a national missile defence (NMD) system, according to a major poll released on Wednesday by the influential Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).

The poll, carried out in late August and early September and then again five weeks after the September 11 attacks, also found that a near- majority (45 per cent) of the public wants Washington to act as “the single leader or first among equals” in global affairs.

This is a substantial increase from 38 per cent just before September 11 and an even smaller percentage a decade ago after the Gulf War.

And while the public clearly favours a more active role in world affairs, its interest in non-geopolitical issues, such as the environment, health and infectious diseases like AIDS, and world hunger has diminished sharply in the wake of the attacks, according to the poll, which was conducted by the Pew Research Centre here.

As to the conflict against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and the Al Qaeda network which the administration of President George W. Bush has accused of responsibility for the September 11 attacks, a strong majority of the public reject the idea that it will become a major “clash of civilizations” between the West and the Islamic world.

Only 28 per cent of respondents said they see it in this light, while nearly two thirds (63 per cent) describe the struggle as one against a small, radical group.

The poll, which featured detailed follow-up questions, found that respondents with less education were more likely to see it as a civilizational clash than those with more.

Similarly, those respondents who are following events less closely in the mass media tend to be much more worried about the possibility of more terrorist attacks and a major conflict than those who describe themselves as more closely attuned to world affairs.

However, according to the two principal authors, Andrew Kohout of the Pew Center and Morton Halperin, a senior national-security official in the Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton administrations, the main findings are of what they call “America’s new internationalist sentiment”.

“There is much more support for a multilateral foreign policy than before September 11, with roughly six-in-ten (59 per cent) now saying that the interests of (US) allies should be taken into account by the US policy- makers,” they wrote.

Indeed, by a two-to-one margin (59 per cent to 30 per cent, respondents said Washington should “strongly take into account the interests of its allies with regard to the war on terrorism” as opposed to basing decisions “mostly on US national interests,” which was a favourite theme of Bush’s presidential campaign last year.

Before the attacks, when asked about general levels of co- operation with allies, the public was more evenly divided, with 48 per cent in favour of taking allies’ views into account, and 38 per cent saying US national interests should take priority. —Dawn/The InterPress News Service.