Thursday, September 11, 2003

Iraqi Opinion Poll

Karl Zinsmeister (of the American Enterprise Institute) wrote an article on the opinion page of the Wall Street Journal yesterday that is worth reading. The article has been posted on the AEI website. He describes the first "scientific" opinion poll of the Iraqi people regarding their current situation and views toward the US. Contrary to many media depictions of Iraq, the poll suggests that Iraqis look favorablly on the American presence (at least in the short term), are secular, and are looking to model their government after either the US or Saudi Arabia (of the choices of countries given). My only concern in this poll is that they did not include Baghdad, which just happens to be the largest population center in Iraq. Why would Baghdad be left out of such a poll? In any event, they deserve credit for trying to get real evidence of Iraqi opinions instead of mere speculation by the press and politicians.

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