|
From the NewsMax.com Staff
|
|
For the story behind the story...
|
Friday, June 18, 2004 12:55 a.m. EDT
Poll: Almost No Iraqis See U.S. as Liberators
U.S. forces in Iraq are not there to liberate the Iraqi people but are an occupying force, an astounding 92 percent of Iraqis surveyed told a private poll.
But only a bare 3 percent voiced support for deposed dictator Saddam Hussein.
Story Continues Below
The poll, authorized by the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) last month and leaked to the media, showed that a total of 54 percent believed that all Americans behaved like the guards at Abu Ghraib, according to Britain's Independent newspaper.
Seventy-one percent of those polled in face-to-face interviews in six Iraqi cities also said they were surprised by the guards' behavior.
The results stunned CPA officials. "If you are sitting here as part of the coalition, it [the poll] is pretty grim," Donald Hamilton, a career diplomat who helps oversee the CPA's polling of Iraqis, told the Assisted Press, which obtained the polling results.
Among the other findings:
55 percent agreed that they would feel safer if the 138,000 U.S. troops left immediately, nearly double the 28 percent who said that last January.
41 percent agreed that Americans should leave immediately, while 45 percent said they preferred that U.S. forces leave only after a permanent Iraqi government is installed.
63 percent believed conditions would improve when the Iraqi interim government takes over at the end of the month, and 62 percent believed it was "very likely" the Iraqi police and army would be able to maintain security without U.S. forces.
A State Department spokesman told the Independent: "Let's face it. That's the goal, to build those up to the point where they can take charge in Iraq and they can maintain security in Iraq."
67 percent of Iraqis say they support or strongly support the rebel Shia leader Muqtada Sadr.
A total of 81 percent of Iraqis had an improved opinion of Sadr in May from three months earlier, and 64 percent said the acts of his "Mahdi Army" insurgents had made Iraq more unified.
Yet only 2 percent would support him for president. According to other media reports, however, he has no support from the majority of Shia clerics.
The coalition's confidence rating in May was 11 percent, down from 47 percent in November, while the troops themselves had the support of only 10 percent.
The survey questioned 1,093 adults who were selected randomly in Baghdad, Basra, Mosul, Diwaniyah, Hillah and Baquba between May 14 and 23.
Editor's note:
Become a member of NewsMax’s "Land of the Free, Home of the Brave" Club – get the T-shirt – Click Here Now
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
War on Terrorism
Saddam Hussein/Iraq
Inside Cover Stories
FBI Seeks 2 Mysterious Men on Ferry
Publisher: Conservatives Do Read As Much As Liberals
Romney Shrugs Off Mormon History Film
Bob Grant to Return to Radio
Carville Seeks Perfect '08 Bumper Sticker
More Inside Cover Stories
Print Page 
Forward Page 
