Iraq The Model on Poll Results

Yesterday I posted about Iraq--about the suspension of the 8th Brigade of 2nd National Police Batallion and about the poll results showing 61% of Iraqis favoring attacks on US troops.

Today I checked on Iraq the Model just to see what's on their minds, because it's been a while since the last time I read their blog. Monday, Omar posted this, titled, "About those poll numbers..." Take a look. What he has to say is encouraging (and I'd email his post to my friend's lefty friend, but I don't feel up to handling another email firestorm).

Now that I spent enough time mulling this over, I can say that having 40% of Iraqis who disapprove of attacks on US troops is actually a surprising figure (in a good way) and it's not that bad at all. I mean the numbers indicate that war has more support in Iraq than it has in the UK itself or in countries in the Middle East where America is not waging a war! But again, if we want to comment on these numbers we need to keep a few points in our minds…

The magnitude of pressure and misinformation the people here are subject to from the media is a factor that cannot be ignored. Since April 2003 and till now virtually all the media kept describing the US presence as a force of occupation even when the legal status of the forces ceased to be so long time ago.

For over three years, the media kept focusing on the mistakes and shortcomings of the US military and US administration in what I can only describe as force-feeding hatred to the Iraqi people.

It's not only the media, there are also our politicians. A good deal of the political class here is guilty of treason; some betrayed the US after posing as allies and friends while some betrayed the people by dragging them to an absolutely unnecessary confrontation with the US military.

Both types have been trying to convince the people that America is responsible for instability and chaos in Iraq.

He goes on, discussing other influences and talking about the Iraqi culture in general. Then he ends this way:

After all this pressure and suffering, 40% of Iraqis still view America as their friend…now really, you can't find that in many countries that America did not fire a single bullet at especially in the Middle East.

There are 40% of Iraqis who view American soldiers (not only American people) as friends and in my opinion this should be considered a good foundation for building a much better relationship.

I said in the beginning I would not apologize for or praise my people's attitude but I've changed my mind. I can't ignore the part of the poll that says 94% of Iraqis disapprove of al-Qaeda! I'm sure we can't get such a result anywhere else in the Arab or Muslim world…well, maybe not even in the west…who knows!