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Bend it like Cheney
The ZI survey was one of only a handful that have been conducted in Iraq since the fall of Saddam. As with the others, its results must come with a health warning: the sample was small — 600 Iraqis were surveyed, in four cities: Basra (Iraq’s second largest, home to 1.7 million people, in the south), Mosul (in the north), Kirkuk (a Kurdish-influenced oil city), and Ramadi (a resistance hotbed in the so-called Sunni triangle) - and the survey was conducted in difficult conditions by a western agency. However, spin can only distort an already confused picture. Other numbers go further to dampen the vice president’s and the AEI’s rosy interpretations. For example, when asked if "democracy can work in Iraq", 51% said "no; it is a western way of doing things and will not work here."

And attitudes toward the US were not positive. When asked whether, over the next five years, they felt that the "US would help or hurt Iraq", 50% said that the US would hurt Iraq, while only 35.5% felt the US would help. On the other hand, 61% of Iraqis felt that Saudi Arabia would help Iraq in the next five years, as opposed to 7.5% who felt Saudi Arabia would hurt their country. Half felt that the UN would help Iraq, while 18.5% felt it would hurt. Iran’s rating was very close to the US’s, with 53.5% of Iraqis saying Iran would hurt them in the next five years, while only 21.5% felt Iran might help them.

It is disturbing that the AEI and the vice-president could get it so wrong. Their misuse of poll numbers to make the point they wanted to make resembles the way critics have noted that the administration used "intelligence data" to make a case to justify the war. But wishing something to be can’t make it so. For the administration to continue to tell itself and the American people that "all is well," only means that needed changes in policy will not be made. Consider some of the other poll findings:
· Over 55% give a negative rating to "how the US military is dealing with Iraqi civilians". Only 20% gave the US military a positive rating.

· By 57% to 38.5%, Iraqis indicate they would support "Arab forces" providing security in their country.

· When asked how they would describe the attacks on the US military, 49% said as "resistance operations". Only 29% saw them as attacks by "Baath loyalists".
49%? damn lot of terrorists, ah well in the eyes of some Randburgers all Iraqis are terrorists

· When asked whom they preferred to "provide security and restore order in their country, only 6.5% said the US, while 27% said the US and the UN together, 14.5% preferred only the UN, and the largest group, 45%, said they would prefer the "Iraqi military" to do the job alone.
There are important lessons here; lessons policy-makers ought to heed if they are to help Iraq move forward. What Iraqis appear to be telling us is that they have hope for the future, but they want the help of their neighbours more than that of the US. That may not be what Washington wants to hear, but it ought to listen. Because if policymakers continue to bend the data to meet their desired policy, then this hole they are digging will only get deeper.
Even the polls of American magazines (which try to picture the reality more positive than it is) show how Iraqis think of Americans
Posted by: Murat 2003-10-29
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=20484