BBC shocked by results of their Iraq poll

An opinion poll carried out in Iraq will make good reading for US President George W Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The poll suggests that Iraqis are happier than they were before the invasion, optimistic about the future and opposed to violence...

Seventy percent said that things were going well or quite well in their lives, while only 29% felt things were bad.

And 56% said that things were better now than they were before the war.

Almost half (49%) believed the invasion of Iraq by the US-led coalition was right, although 41% felt that the invasion "humiliated Iraq".

More than three quarters (79%) want Iraq to remain united, and only 20% want it to become an Islamic state.

Other results: when asked which leader they trusted the most, just 0.2% said Ahmed Chalabi; he's not trusted at all by 10.3%. That latter amount is the highest of about 35 others. Saddam's scores were 3.3% and 3.1% in those categories.

72.2% strongly agree that Iraq needs a democracy. While many favor a strongman leader, when asked various combinations, 41.7% favor a democracy with (small-d) democrats combination.

35.6% say they would never speak with other people about politics; 75.3% said they would never join a political party or action group. That might indicate that memories of Saddam's secret police remain.

17.3% think it's acceptable for others to attack coalition forces. 13.2% strongly support the presence of coalition forces and 26.3% somewhat support them. 31.3% strongly oppose them. But, only 15.1% think they should leave now. Only 20% say they've had a personal encounter with coalition forces.

Iraq · Mon, 03/15/2004 - 22:15 · · Importance: 1