Iraqis Favor Attacks on American Troops

A majority of Iraqis favor attacks on American troops , according to a recent poll in that country. Makes one wonder for whom the surge is working.

NEW YORK So General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker have spoken. Now, will the press listen to certain other interested parties in the debate over the future of the “surge” and the U.S. in Iraq: The Iraqi people?

By chance or design, a credible new poll was released today shortly before the testimony on the Hill. Findings could prove sobering, and seem to challenge much of the Petraeus/Crocker reporting.

For example, by 57% to 43%, those polled back “attacks on coalition forces.” This broke down to 93% of Sunnis in favor, 50% of Shia, and 5% of Kurds. In contrast, only 7% of the sample supports attack on Iraqi forces.

Asked separately, 48% said attacks by al-Qaeda in Iraq on U.S. forces were "acceptable" with 51% finding them unacceptable. Yet only 1% backed al-Qaeda attempts to take over any areas. So sympathy for al-Qaeda was extremely low -- except when it comes to hitting U.S. troops.

The poll was conducted in mid-August by ABC News, Britain's BBC, and Japan's public broadcaster NHK. More than 2,000 Iraqis were interviewed.