The historic vote
While I would be remiss to stress how important and, for lack of a better term, wonderful it is that Iraqis are flocking to the polls in record numbers, I'm not so sure we should declare this a sign of vindication for a free Iraq. It's probably true that a primary reason why so many Iraqis go to the polls is because they sincerely do want to seize control of their future.
But it's just as likely that one driving force they want to go to the polls and vote is because they want the U.S. to get out of their country as fast as humanly possible. An ABC News poll of Iraqi citizens on the eve of the election showed that most of them had very negative views of the American-led occupation.
The poll found that 46 percent of the country believe their country is better off now than before the invasion, while half of Iraqis say it was wrong for the U.S. forces to invade in 2003 (which is up from 39 percent last year). Only 18 percent of Iraqis have confidence in the U.S.-led forces, compared to a confidence rating of 68 percent in their own police forces.
Likewise, the poll discovered that support for a democratic government in Iraqi is below 50 percent in both the Sunni and Shiite populations, with it coming over 50 percent as a whole only when including the strong support democracy has among the Kurds.
So again, let's keep this in perspective ... while the elections are an important part of creating a more stable Iraq, one in which U.S. forces can return home, it's important to remember that such voter turnout is not so much about building a democratic Iraq, but about Iraqis getting Iraq back from the U.S.
Of course, the folks over at The Powerline attempted to wax poetic about the dreadful findings in the ABC News poll:
Actually, most Iraqis view the occupation exactly as President Bush and most Americans do: they want our forces to stay until the Iraqis can maintain reasonable security on their own, then leave. The ABC News poll released yesterday found that only 26% of respondents want coalition troops to "leave now." Further, only 10% list the withdrawal of foreign troops within the next year as a "high priority."
Murtha's conviction that American troops are the problem in Iraq, not the solution, and that things woud be better if we would only leave, exemplifies the childish solipsism so often seen on the Left, where American actions are generally seen as the causes of all events--or all bad ones, anyway.
Those are puzzling findings, particularly considering they appear to cite the exact same poll I just went over briefly. Matt Yglesias does a pretty good job smacking those claims down by taking a deeper look at the findings:
Asked "Do you strongly support,somewhat support, somewhat oppose or strongly oppose the presence of Coalition Forces in Iraq?", 47.6 percent marked themselves strongly opposed and 20.8 percent are somewhat opposed. Just 12.8 percent are strong supporters of the presence. 40 percent think coalition forces have done "A very bad job" of discharging their responsibilities in Iraq, and 19 percent say they've done "quite a bad job" (note that while "quite" is an intensifier in America, it's the reverse in Britain and the poll was written up by English people). Asked "how much confidence" they have in various institutions, 54.6 percent of Iraqis say they have "none at all" in coalition forces and 23.2 have "not very much."
But it's just as likely that one driving force they want to go to the polls and vote is because they want the U.S. to get out of their country as fast as humanly possible. An ABC News poll of Iraqi citizens on the eve of the election showed that most of them had very negative views of the American-led occupation.
The poll found that 46 percent of the country believe their country is better off now than before the invasion, while half of Iraqis say it was wrong for the U.S. forces to invade in 2003 (which is up from 39 percent last year). Only 18 percent of Iraqis have confidence in the U.S.-led forces, compared to a confidence rating of 68 percent in their own police forces.
Likewise, the poll discovered that support for a democratic government in Iraqi is below 50 percent in both the Sunni and Shiite populations, with it coming over 50 percent as a whole only when including the strong support democracy has among the Kurds.
So again, let's keep this in perspective ... while the elections are an important part of creating a more stable Iraq, one in which U.S. forces can return home, it's important to remember that such voter turnout is not so much about building a democratic Iraq, but about Iraqis getting Iraq back from the U.S.
Of course, the folks over at The Powerline attempted to wax poetic about the dreadful findings in the ABC News poll:
Actually, most Iraqis view the occupation exactly as President Bush and most Americans do: they want our forces to stay until the Iraqis can maintain reasonable security on their own, then leave. The ABC News poll released yesterday found that only 26% of respondents want coalition troops to "leave now." Further, only 10% list the withdrawal of foreign troops within the next year as a "high priority."
Murtha's conviction that American troops are the problem in Iraq, not the solution, and that things woud be better if we would only leave, exemplifies the childish solipsism so often seen on the Left, where American actions are generally seen as the causes of all events--or all bad ones, anyway.
Those are puzzling findings, particularly considering they appear to cite the exact same poll I just went over briefly. Matt Yglesias does a pretty good job smacking those claims down by taking a deeper look at the findings:
Asked "Do you strongly support,somewhat support, somewhat oppose or strongly oppose the presence of Coalition Forces in Iraq?", 47.6 percent marked themselves strongly opposed and 20.8 percent are somewhat opposed. Just 12.8 percent are strong supporters of the presence. 40 percent think coalition forces have done "A very bad job" of discharging their responsibilities in Iraq, and 19 percent say they've done "quite a bad job" (note that while "quite" is an intensifier in America, it's the reverse in Britain and the poll was written up by English people). Asked "how much confidence" they have in various institutions, 54.6 percent of Iraqis say they have "none at all" in coalition forces and 23.2 have "not very much."
posted by Jmac at 8:36 AM
3 Comments:
The poll found that 46 percent of the country believe their country is better off now than before the invasion, while half of Iraqis say it was wrong for the U.S. forces to invade in 2003 (which is up from 39 percent last year).
Are these two things opposed? Because they're not, necessarily.
Oh no, they're not opposed. I was unclear in my wording. My bad!
It is supposed to be two different things. That is, 46 percent of the country thinks things are better because the U.S. invaded (thus implying that 54 percent are either undecided about that fact or feel that things are worse).
And that half of Iraqis feel is was wrong of the U.S. to invade and remove Saddam from power, which is different than the previous finding, but not opposed to it. My bad for giving the implication they were.
I'm not sure that you were. More that it would be easy for some people to infer so.
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