A recent World Public Opinion.org poll reports growing numbers of people in some of the largest Muslim countries claim they don’t know who was behind the September 11 attacks:

• In February 2007, 29% of Egyptians said they didn’t know; in August 2008, that figure had grown to 46%.
• In January 2007, 43% of Indonesians said they didn’t know; in August 2008, 54%
• In February 2007, 63% of Pakistanis said they didn’t know; in August 2008, 72%.

(See page 24-25 of the February 25 report “Public Opinion in the Islamic World on Terrorism, al Qaeda, and US Policies” for data on these and other countries.)

If views about the September 11 attacks were based on facts, the trend would go the other way as more information becomes available, but this isn’t happening in Egypt, Indonesia, and Pakistan.

The World Public Opinion.org report comments, “this suggests that, rather than the passage of time allowing greater distance and deliberation, an avoidance and denial mechanism may have grown more habitual.”

It adds:

[C]onflicted feelings about al Qaeda—support for its goals coupled with rejection of its attacks on civilians—may help explain … the widespread rejection of the idea that al Qaeda was behind the September 11 attacks. … What this suggests is that many Muslims may feel tension or cognitive dissonance between their support for al Qaeda’s goals and disapproval of attacks on civilians. To alleviate this tension they may then avoid or discount information that points to al Qaeda (even the videos in which al Qaeda leaders claim responsibility) and seek out information that casts doubts on al Qaeda’s culpability and offers alternative theories.