Poll Position: Iraq

It should come as absolutely no surprise to anyone with a brain that, for the obvious reasons, they don’t conduct many opinion polls in Iraq…

But seeing as how today is the four year anniversary of the war, ABC News and a handful of other media outlets decided to do one, polling 2,200 Iraqis.

The results, not at all surprisingly, are not good…

Consider:

• In November 2005, the number of Iraqis who say their own life was going well was 71%… that number has dipped dropped plunged to 39%.
• About three-fourths of Iraqis report feelings of anger, depression and difficulty concentrating.
• More than 50% of Iraqis polled have curtailed activities like going out of their homes, going to markets or other crowded places and traveling through police checkpoints.
• Only 18% have confidence in U.S. and coalition troops.
• 86% are concerned that someone in their household will be a victim of violence.
• 51% of those polled say that violence against U.S. forces is acceptable, a significant jump from the 17% who felt that way in 2004.
• In 2005, 63% said they felt very safe in their neighborhoods, that number is now only 26%.

To see the complete polling results in a PDF file, CLICK HERE.

With sobering statistics coming in daily about the number of dead and wounded, these results are a sad reflection on just how bad things are over there.

And yet, despite these numbers, the Bush(whacked) Administration is in full spin mode (and acting very snippy) about the war on its anniversary.

We had Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice hitting the airwaves calling for Americans “to be patient” and saying that the war in Iraq is “worth the sacrifice.”

We have “President” Bush saying that there’s been “good progress” over there and that U.S. security will suffer if we pull out too soon (Is there really anyone left out there who still thinks Iraq has anything to do with national security in this country?)

I’m sure there are things to say about this (read an Iraqi’s view of the war via WaPo HERE), and I could certainly offer my opionion like I always do…

But in this situation, I think the numbers profoundly speak for themselves…

UPDATE: Hindsight is always 20/20, but this conversation with Kadhim al-Jubouri, an Iraqi weightlifting champion who helped U.S. forces tear down the statue of Saddam Hussein, is most revealing, especially when he says: "I really regret bringing down the statue. The Americans are worse than the dictatorship. Every day is worse than the previous day."

I don't know about you, but reading that "Americans are worse than the dictatorship" really, really hurts... and I am not being a smart-ass... it hurts...

Way to go Mr. Bush...