With their rampant and indiscriminate killing spree now all over the world and taking out muslim men, women and children Al Quaeda may be going too far for most muslims to stomach. The Washington Post just released a poll showin a drop in support in key Muslim nations.

Osama bin Laden’s standing has dropped significantly in some key Muslim countries, while support for suicide bombings and other acts of violence has “declined dramatically,” according to a new survey released today.

In a striking finding, predominantly Muslim populations in a sampling of six North African, Middle East and Asian countries are also as alarmed as Western nations about Islamic extremism, which is now seen as a threat in their own nations too, the poll found.

“Most Muslim publics are expressing less support for terrorism than in the past. Confidence in Osama bin Laden has declined markedly in some countries, and fewer believe suicide bombings that target civilians are justified in the defense of Islam,” concluded the Pew Global Attitudes Project.

They are rightfully worried they will be next, since very few muslims follow the Taliban brand of fascist islam. But these nations also want democracy – bad.

Compared with previous surveys, the new poll also found growing majorities or pluralities of Muslims surveyed now say democracy can work in their countries and is not just a political system for the West. Support for democracy was in the 80 percent range in Indonesia, Jordan, Lebanon and Morocco and the highest score at 43 percent in Pakistan and 48 percent in Turkey, where significant numbers were unsure.

“They are not just paying lip service. They are saying they specifically want a fair judiciary, freedom of expression and more than one party to participate in elections. It wasn’t just a vague concept,” said Andrew Kohut, president of the Pew Research Center and director of the project. “U.S. and Western ideas about democracy have been globalized and are in the Muslim world.”

And this was before 7/7

The survey, conducted from April through mid-June and before the London bombings, polled 17,000 people in the six Muslim-dominated countries as well as 11 major Western and Asian nations, including the United States, on attitudes toward Islam, Muslim nations and extremist violence

It will be interesting to see how these numbers adjust to the London massacres and the killing of 2030+ chilidren in Iraq.

UPDATE:

Ed Morrissey posts on this news, rightfully crediting the bold and clear Bush policies for the change in dynamic