The Iraqi Polls That Are Worth Reporting and the Iraqi Polls That Are Not Worth Reporting

This AP poll is typical of the MSM's handling of the news, whether in Iraq or anywhere else.

It has been over three years since democracy (or a semblance thereof or the next best thing, call it what you want) was restored to Iraq, and only now does anybody (Iraqi or foreign) think of taking a poll among the Iraqi population?!

No. There has actually been an abundance of polls since April 2003, official and semi-official, Iraqi and foreign, but we rarely hear about them. The West's MSM either ignore them or mention them as briefly as possible, forgetting them instantly as they return to their hand-wringing, chicken-little prophesizing and to their ubiquitous search for bad news (such as this AP poll).

Now why would that be? Could it be that those polls give a (very) different illustration than that the MSM is used to giving us?

A book I am writing on the subject of anti-Americanism in the world (a version in French appeared a few months ago) quotes half a dozen of these polls.

A March 2004 poll by the BBC found that of 2,500 persons asked, only 17% thought that life was slightly worse or far worse than a year earlier, while 56% thought life had improved. When they were asked how they saw their lives a year from then, less than 7% thought that life would be worse than at the time of the poll, while 71% thought life would be better, with a majority opining that life would be far better. Opinion was shared as to whether coalition forces had humiliated the country or freed it (41,2% to 41,8%) but in any case, only a small minority (15%) wanted the troops to leave. As for the security situation, less than 27% thought it had gotten worse, while 54% (more than double) thought it had improved.

In a January 2005 poll, 88% of Iraqis polled by the newspaper Sabah supported military action against the "insurgents" who are terrorizing the country, while a rival newspaper, Al Midhar, found that less than 13% of Iraqis wanted the immediate departure of the troops.

In polls carried out by Iraqi universities during the Fall of 2005, Iraqis showed nothing but optimism. Two thirds said their lives were better than in the Saddam era, and no less than 82% felt sure that their lives would be even better one year hence.

(These results, incidentally, echo those from Afghanistan, especially the BBC's October 2005 findings, in which almost 77% thought that their country was on the right path, 87% held that the Americans' toppling of the Taliban régime was a good thing for the country, and 83% held a favorable opinion of the United States.)

As I mention on my blog, any anger, frustration, or resentment the Iraqis may hold towards the American military (and most do not) is dwarfed by that they felt — and that they feel — towards governments of the so-called Peace Camp, the peace activists, and the members of the MSM who opposed Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Things to ponder while reading polls from Iraq (or, really, news about any subject from the MSM)…