Iraqis’ opinions on U.S. ‘grim’

From combined dispatches

An opinion poll commissioned by the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) last month found more than half of Iraqis surveyed believe that they would be safer without U.S. forces and that all Americans behave like the U.S. military guards pictured in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse photos.

The survey, which was not released to the American public, also found radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is surging in popularity as he leads an insurrection against U.S.-led forces, but would still be a distant finisher in an election for Iraqi president. The survey was taken last month.

Iraq’s representative to the United States, Rend al-Rahim, said in Washington yesterday that a premature withdrawal of coalition troops would be “catastrophic” for the country and the region.

While Mrs. al-Rahim agreed that “it appears June 30 cannot come too soon for both sides,” she cautioned that a power turnover should not be accompanied by a military pullout.

“Iraq would descend into anarchy and the country would be delivered into the hands of international terrorists and fanatics,” she said.

“It would be catastrophic,” Mrs. al-Rahim said at a conference in the District sponsored by the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.

In Baghdad, a career foreign service officer who is working for Ambassador L. Paul Bremer’s interim government and helped oversee the CPA’s polling of Iraqis, described the poll results as “pretty grim.”

“While you have to be saddened that our intentions have been misunderstood by a lot of Iraqis, the truth of the matter is they have a strong inclination toward the things that have the potential to bring democracy here,” Donald Hamilton told the Associated Press.

Mr. Hamilton noted the poll found 63 percent of Iraqis believed conditions will improve when an Iraqi interim government takes over June 30, and 62 percent believed it was “very likely” the Iraqi police and army will maintain security without U.S. forces.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said, “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.”

The poll was conducted by Iraqis in face-to-face interviews in six cities with people representing the country’s various factions.

Its results conflict with the generally upbeat assessments the Bush administration continues to give Americans.

Just last week, President Bush predicted future generations of Iraqis “will come to America and say, ‘Thank goodness America stood the line and was strong and did not falter in the face of the violence of a few.’ ”

Confidence in the coalition forces stood at 10 percent.

Story Continues →