WPO Polls Iraqis on Views of Their Country's Future

I suppose most US news media will, like AP, highlight the World Public Opinion poll's findings on Iraqi antagonism toward American troops. That's too bad, because there's actually some decently good news here, in that majorities of Iraqis reject extremism and civil war.

There's irony here too, of course, in that Americans and Iraqis, for all the ire being expressed, share a common goal: to get US troops out of Iraq.

"Poll: Iraqis Back Attacks on US Troops," by Barry Schweid - AP (Washington, DC), 27 September 2006

WASHINGTON - About six in 10 Iraqis say they approve of attacks on U.S.-led forces, and slightly more than that want their government to ask U.S. troops to leave within a year, according to a poll in that country.

The Iraqis also have negative views of  Osama bin Laden, according to the early September poll of 1,150.

The poll, done for University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes, [also] found:

- Almost four in five Iraqis say the U.S. military force in Iraq provokes more violence than it prevents....

- Three-fourths say they think the United States plans to keep military bases in Iraq permanently.

- A majority of Iraqis, 72 percent, say they think Iraq will be one state five years from now. Shiite Iraqis were most likely to feel that way, though a majority of Sunnis and Kurds also believed that would be the case.

The PIPA poll, which included an oversample of 150 Sunni Iraqis, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

The State Department, meanwhile, has also conducted its own poll, something it does periodically, spokesman Sean McCormack said. The State Department poll found that two-thirds of Iraqis in Baghdad favor an immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces, according to The Washington Post. McCormack declined to discuss details of the department's Iraq poll....

The WPO report is available online, as a .pdf file:

"The Iraqi Public on the US Presence and the Future of Iraq" - a WorldPublicOpinion.org poll conducted by the Program on International Policy Attitudes of the University of Maryland, 27 September 2006. The following excerpts are from the "Key Findings" section.

Seven in ten Iraqis want US-led forces to commit to withdraw within a year....If the US made a commitment to withdraw, a majority believes that this would strengthen the Iraqi government. Majorities believe that the withdrawal of US troops would lead to a reduction in the amount of inter-ethnic violence and improvement in the day-to-day security of Iraqis....There is little interest in replacing US-led forces with an international peacekeeping force....

Support for attacks on US-led forces has grown to a majority position -- now six in ten. Support
appears to be related to [a] widespread perception, held by all ethnic groups, that the US government plans to have permanent military bases in Iraq and would not withdraw its forces from Iraq even if the Iraqi government asked it to. If the US were to commit to withdraw, more than half of those who approve of attacks on US troops say that their support for attacks would diminish....

Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden are rejected by overwhelming majorities of Shias and Kurds and large majorities of Sunnis....

Majorities still approve of the US training Iraqi security forces and helping with community development, though most of these feel the US is doing a poor job....Were the US to agree to a timetable for the withdrawal of its forces Iraqis say their support for nonmilitary forms of US involvement in Iraq would increase....

Iraqis appear to agree on having a strong central government. Large majorities among all groups
want the government to get rid of the militias....A large majority sees the current government as the legitimate representative of the Iraqi people....

Overall, a large majority expresses confidence in the Maliki government, the Iraqi army, Iraqi interior ministry forces and the police....

The continuing strife and instability in Iraq has diminished optimism among the Iraqi people....Overall, the belief that Iraq is headed in the wrong direction is at a high point and now a slight majority. Majorities of all groups do not think that the level of violence will diminish in the near future. The belief that ousting Saddam Hussein was worth the hardships entailed is down sharply, but very large majorities of Shia and Kurds continue to believe that it was worth it....

Attacks on government security forces and civilians continue to be rejected by very large majorities of all groups....