New Iraq Survey

[Jim]

Survey taken from June 14-June 24, 2006 with 2,849 valid interviews of total sample of 3,120 in 18 of Iraq's 18 provinces. Margin of Error - +/- 3%

 

Do you feel tha Iraq is generally heading in the right direction or wrong direction?

 

Right: 41%

Wrong: 35%

Don't Know: 19%

No answer: 5%

 

Baghdad, Kurdish, Mid-Euphrates and South areas had less than 25% wrong direction poll numbers. Northern Arab = 86% Wrong Direction; Sunni Areas = 63% Wrong Direction.

 

Note that the Right Direction numbers start at 51% in 5/04, peak at 67% in 4/05, dipped to 30% in 3/06 (the first poll ever where the right direction number dipped below the wrong direction) before going to 41% in 6/06.

 

From reading previous polls, the right direction numbers are less influenced than in 2004 by the "getting rid of regime" responses, whereas the wrong direction results are more influenced by the "presence of occupation" responses.

 

Consistently, more Iraqi's have felt better about the future than worse; however, this number has declined in 2006.

 

55% approve of the job done by PM Al-Maliki, whereas 20% disapprove.

 

I could go on but the point here is that the true picture in Iraq appears to be complex and the most important and clear result was the following:

 

89% felt the establishment of a unity government was "extremely important" to the future peace and stablity of Iraq. Even in the Kurdish and Sunni areas this number was at 75% and 97% respectively. In fact, the Sunni area was the highest here....

 

66% Strongly Disagree with the suggestion of segregating Iraqis according to religious or ethnic sect. 12% Disagree. Only in the Kurdish areas did the percentage agreeing exceed 7%.

 

75% describe the security conditions in Iraq as "poor" whereas only 38% describe the conditions as poor in their own neighborhood.

[ecoli]

66% Strongly Disagree with the suggestion of segregating Iraqis according to religious or ethnic sect. 12% Disagree. Only in the Kurdish areas did the percentage agreeing exceed 7%.

 

This one surprized me. considering all the fighting, I'd figure more would be for a separation.

[Pangloss]

It's amazing to me the way the far left is running around screaming about how Iraq is completely unsalvagable. It's certainly an ugly mess, but there's no logical reason at this point to think it can't work out. The only motivation for drawing that conclusion at this stage is ideological.

 

It is what it is. We may succeed, we may fail. There's only one way to find out, and their way (immediate withdrawl) ain't it. It's wrong, they know it's wrong, and they can't sell it to anybody, so they're left with nothing but an inconvenient, inapplicable, intractable lie.

[ecoli]

It's amazing to me the way the far left is running around screaming about how Iraq is completely unsalvagable. It's certainly an ugly mess, but there's no logical reason at this point to think it can't work out. The only[/i'] motivation for drawing that conclusion at this stage is ideological.

 

It does smell of a circular reasoning fallacy.

[Jim]

It's amazing to me the way the far left is running around screaming about how Iraq is completely unsalvagable. It's certainly an ugly mess' date=' but there's no logical reason at this point to think it [i']can't[/i] work out. The only motivation for drawing that conclusion at this stage is ideological.

 

It is what it is. We may succeed, we may fail. There's only one way to find out, and their way (immediate withdrawl) ain't it. It's wrong, they know it's wrong, and they can't sell it to anybody, so they're left with nothing but an inconvenient, inapplicable, intractable lie.

 

I couldn't say it any better Pangloss. I only wish the survey had asked questions to discover how much the shift in the right track/wrong track numbers from 2004 - 2006 relates to Iraqi perception of America's lack of resolve as gleaned from the MSM.

[john5746]

It's amazing to me the way the far left is running around screaming about how Iraq is completely unsalvagable. It's certainly an ugly mess' date=' but there's no logical reason at this point to think it [i']can't[/i] work out. The only motivation for drawing that conclusion at this stage is ideological.

 

It is what it is. We may succeed, we may fail. There's only one way to find out, and their way (immediate withdrawl) ain't it. It's wrong, they know it's wrong, and they can't sell it to anybody, so they're left with nothing but an inconvenient, inapplicable, intractable lie.

 

I disagree. I think there are people that think it just isn't worth American lives, money and political clout to stay there hoping things will change. Like any investment, you have risks and rewards. People see them differently.

 

Iraq may be heading in the "right direction" and may be a success. That doesn't mean it will be a success that we necessarily agree with. I can't see Iraq being completely against Iran and Syria and pro-America/Israel. They will have to find a comfort zone.

[Pangloss]

I think you may have missed my point, because you seem to agree with me rather than them:

 

...the far left is running around screaming about how Iraq is [b']completely unsalvagable[/b]

 

It's certainly an ugly mess...

 

Iraq may be heading in the "right direction" and may be a success[/b']. That doesn't mean it will be a success that we necessarily agree with.

 

In point of fact you're identifying more with me than with the people I was talking about. You and I agree that it's a mess, and that it may or may not work out.

 

The group that I was talking about refuses to consider even the possibility that it might work out. It's an undeniable mess. That's a mantra, a rallying cry, a FAITH-based conclusion. Not a truth. Those are clearly not people whom you agree with at all.

 

That's what I'm objecting to, not the notion that it may not work out. The objection I have is to ideological denial of reality, not a mere difference of opinion.

 

YOUR opinion I respect, because it's logical, it's reasoned, it's objective and it's thoughtful. With you it's not about Making Georgie Wrong, it's about what's best for the country in your opinion. That's exactly how political opinions should be formed.