"They want us to leave" we are often told, "they" ostensibly meaning the Iraqi people. And without doubt, there is definitely a group who wants us to leave as soon as possible, and is killing new members of the transitional government, along with soldiers, contractors and civilians to drive home their point. Michelle at A Small Victory has some lucid observations about who they are and why they want us gone:
The answer seems pretty obvious. It would have to be someone who does not want the infrastructure rebuild. Someone who does not want the city put back together with better electricity than it had before. Someone who does not want schools and hospitals built, someone who does not want new roadways installed or markets to open.
She also draws logical distinctions between the goals of this group and what the presumed goals of a population that wants to live free of terror and occupation:
Now, this could all very well be conjecture on my part, but based on what I've seen and what I've read, I don't think so. Also, common sense tells me that people who lived under an oppressive, tyrannical, death squad regime, people who lived in squalor and fear while others who bowed to the evil principles of said regime lived in luxury and without fear, they would want the coalition forces there. They would want change and want democracy.
I share her assumptions. However, the Iraqi people as a whole do not agree. In the first Iraqi public opinion poll taken since the revelations about Abu Ghraib, 82% see the coalition forces as occupiers and view their presence as a liability.
64% see the attacks as an effort of outside groups to create instability. 46% believe they are rooted in efforts to liberate Iraq from the US and Coalition forces.
41% of those polled want us to leave immediately; 45% want us out as soon as a permanent government is elected.
63% of those polled think the interim government poised to take charge on June 30 will make things better.
Like many of you out there, I read Iraqi blogs such as Healing Iraq, Iraq the Model and The Mesopotamian. While some bloggers, such as Riverbend of Baghdad Burning express views similar to those expressed in the poll, others are more positive, in spite of the chaos of the past year. For example, here's A.Y.S from Iraq at a Glance:
So we still need the help of the United States.. Some Americans might disagree with that as they lost many of their brave sons and daughters here in Iraq because of those thugs and terrorists, I’m so sorry for that, but, you know, this is the war on terror.. we still need the support, we still need you, we are on our way to get the self-dependence, we are on our way to be a great country.. And be proud of this democratic state..which will be the model for all the countries in the region.
I have always put great stock in the perspective of these Iraqi bloggers, but based on the above poll, the are in the minority. It's possible that because they spend more time on the Internet, their opinions are less influenced by what they see in mass media such as Al-Jazeera. Nonetheless, they apparently are not representative of their country as a whole.
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