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10.12.2003 | Iraq Press

Poll shows Iraqis have no love for "resistance"

http://www.iraqpress.org/

Baghdad, Iraq Press, December 10, 2003 - A new poll suggests that the overwhelming majority of Iraqis consider operations against US-led coalition troops terrorist acts.

The research, by Baghdad's Cultural Association, reinforces other polls by the country's most influential newspaper Azzaman in which most of the respondents see the presence of US troops necessary for the security and integrity of Iraq as a country.

In fact, no poll carried out in Iraq since the downfall of the regime of Saddam Hussein has ever suggested that Iraqis favor a quick departure of US troops.

In the new poll, in which 816 people from various parts of Baghdad took part, more than 90 percent dismiss attacks on occupation forces, Iraqi police and infrastructure "as actions of terrorism which must be condemned and rejected."

Meantime, the poll, the latest in a series of such investigations, shows that most Iraqis would like to have "a secular and democratic" government.

The respondents were given 17 questions, ranging from the role of women, separation of state and religion and attitude towards current violence.

But as in previous polls, most respondents wanted to see a quick end to unrest and lack of security.

Baghdad has seen some of the most ferocious attacks since the removal of Saddam Hussein.

Many would say the reality on the ground, with the mounting attacks on US troops and their Iraqi allies, contrasts with the poll's findings.

The pollsters say only a minority - and a very restricted one - is opposing US efforts to bring peace to the land and reconstruct its failing infrastructure.

These, they say, include diehard supporters of the former regime who are aided by foreign fighters who manage to slip into the country through its porous and yet poorly guarded borders.

 

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