The good news is that according to this Pew survey, support for suicide bombings, Islamist violence and Osama bin Laden appears to be falling across much of the Muslim and Arab world. The bad news is that it is still huge in terms of numbers.

‘The survey found that in Turkey, Morocco and Indonesia 15% or fewer said that suicide bombings and other acts of violence against civilian targets in defence of Islam could be justified; the figure in Morocco last year was 40%. In Pakistan, only one in four - 25% - took the view that suicide bombings could be justified, a sharp drop from 41% last year. In Lebanon, which has been the victim of several recent bombing attacks, 39% now regard acts of terrorism as often or sometimes justified compared to 73% in 2002.

‘The one notable exception to the trend was Jordan, where a majority - 57% - said suicide bombings and violence were justifiable in defence of Islam. Muslims in the surveyed countries were divided on suicide bombings in Iraq. Nearly half in Lebanon and Jordan, and 56% in Morocco, said suicide bombings against westerners in Iraq were justifiable, but substantial majorities in Turkey, Pakistan and Indonesia took the opposite view.’