An interesting poll was released the other day that shows terrorism has lost its clout among Muslims in the Middle East, while democracy has made solid gains. Ed Morrissey has more thoughts on this, which I agree with. So the question begs: Are we witnessing the beginning of a dramatic shift of opinion against extremism in the Muslim world? Perhaps, as this other recent survey shows, people in the Middle East are worried about the election of Iran’s new president.

London, Jul. 15 ???????? A recent survey conducted by a research and studies website run in the United Arab Emirates found that the majority of Arabs believe that the rise of ultra-conservative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Iran????????s presidency will have a negative impact on stability in the Middle East, the prominent UK-based Arabic-language website Elaph reported yesterday.

Elaph said that the survey carried out by the Centre for Strategic Information and Studies in the UAE found that 64.91 percent of the 1,855 people interviewed thought that ???????the result of the recent presidential elections in Iran will negatively affect stability in the region???????.

Only 25.88 percent of those surveyed said that they believed the Iranian elections would have a positive impact, while just under 10 percent offered a neutral answer.

Elaph said that the negative Arab sentiment came because of Ahmadinejad????????s record as a hardliner, Iran????????s pursuit of nuclear weapons, and in particular after recent threats by Iran????????s Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi, directed against Arab states.

Earlier this month, Asefi said in his weekly press conference, “The countries of this region must know that they will suffer more than us from this kind of action as the capabilities of different countries are not of the same magnitude”.

The threat came after the publication of a caricature in a Bahraini daily mocking Iran????????s Supreme Leader.

In response, the Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) sharply criticised Iran????????s Foreign Ministry for using threatening language against GCC member Bahrain.

???????Such remarks by this official ÄAsefiÅ have no correlation with logic or political principals governing relations between states???????, Abdur-Rahman Al-Atiya, Secretary-General of the GCC, said.

He said the Iranian Foreign Ministry????????s position ran contrary to the principle of ???????freedom of expression, which is the primary wish of the Iranian people???????.

So really, what we may be seeing is in fact a two-fold rejection; one of the people who commit terrorism, and another of the very states that sponsor them. There is an inevitable and important link between these two sentiments. In order to win the war on terror, we must win the war on the tyranny that sponsors and gives it haven. Without this, no amount of simple rejection can possibly stop the onslaught. As they say, the fish rots from the head down.

Accepting democracy and rejecting terrorism becomes the first step in a long process of fighting tyranny. In this case, we are seeing the shift of public opinion in the Arab world against Iran for its sponsorship of terrorism and instability. With widespread disdain inside the country, th Islamic regime is bound to fall eventually. But with good neighborly push, it may happen sooner rather than later. The problem in the past has been that government and public opinion in the region has not been necessarily against it. That may, as the two polls suggest, be changing finally.