Wednesday, June 16, 2004
Past The Point Of No Return
The Associated Press has obtained the results of a poll "commissioned by the Coalition Provisional Authority last month but not released to the American public" that "has provided the Bush administration a stark picture of anti-American sentiment" in Iraq.
The results of the poll are a testament to the dismally incompetent efforts of the CPA to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi populace. From the inadvertent elevation in stature of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, "who is surging in popularity" with 81% of those surveyed thinking better of him now than before the invasion, to the harsh tactics at checkpoints and in home searches ("92 percent of Iraqis consider the United States an occupying force"), to the horrendous scandal at Abu Ghraib ("more than half believe all Americans behave like those portrayed in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse photos"), the CPA has passed the tipping point and beyond in the battle for the support of the Iraqi population.
Again, fellow blogger Tim Dunlop has done the blogosphere a great service with his tidy summation of the poll results:
-92% feel the US are occupiers
-55% feel they would be safer if the US left
-54% feel all Americans act like the Abu Ghraib guards
-41% want the US to leave immediately
-45% said they preferred for U.S. forces to leave as soon as a permanent Iraqi -government is installed
-64% expect the worst from Americans now
-81% think better of Moqtada al Sadr than they did before
-63% believed conditions will improve when an Iraqi interim government takes over June 30
-62% believed it was "very likely" the Iraqi police and Army will maintain security without U.S. forces
After seeing those numbers, it is understandable why the government chose not to release them to the public.
The results of the poll are a testament to the dismally incompetent efforts of the CPA to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi populace. From the inadvertent elevation in stature of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, "who is surging in popularity" with 81% of those surveyed thinking better of him now than before the invasion, to the harsh tactics at checkpoints and in home searches ("92 percent of Iraqis consider the United States an occupying force"), to the horrendous scandal at Abu Ghraib ("more than half believe all Americans behave like those portrayed in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse photos"), the CPA has passed the tipping point and beyond in the battle for the support of the Iraqi population.
Again, fellow blogger Tim Dunlop has done the blogosphere a great service with his tidy summation of the poll results:
-92% feel the US are occupiers
-55% feel they would be safer if the US left
-54% feel all Americans act like the Abu Ghraib guards
-41% want the US to leave immediately
-45% said they preferred for U.S. forces to leave as soon as a permanent Iraqi -government is installed
-64% expect the worst from Americans now
-81% think better of Moqtada al Sadr than they did before
-63% believed conditions will improve when an Iraqi interim government takes over June 30
-62% believed it was "very likely" the Iraqi police and Army will maintain security without U.S. forces
After seeing those numbers, it is understandable why the government chose not to release them to the public.
