Nearly 60 percent of Iraqis believe that US-led forces were wrong to invade their country, but half think that democracy is what their country needs most in the next five years, according to a new poll.
The survey, published Monday, said that though many Iraqis strongly oppose the coalition forces, nearly 60 percent believe that the US must help rebuild Iraq if it wants the country's interim government succeed.
"The Iraqis know what they want for their political future: democracy. To them it means freedom, justice, equality. They just don't know how to get there," said Christoph Sahm, the director of Oxford Research International, the British-based consultancy that has conducted four such polls in Iraq since the fall of last year.
The initial results of the latest one were published as the coalition transferred sovereignty to the interim Iraqi government in Baghdad two days earlier than expected.
Asked how life has changed since Saddam Hussein was driven from power, 44 percent of Iraqis said it was much better or somewhat better, 32 percent said it was about the same, and about 25 percent said it was somewhat worse or much worse.
A large majority -- 87 percent -- said regaining public security must be the top priority in Iraq, with many citing fighting between insurgents and coalition forces and rampant crime.
The poll found a commitment to democracy, but confusion about how that should happen in a diverse and unstable country of Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds.
Asked what Iraq needs in the next 12 months, half said a strong Iraqi leader and 31 percent said democracy. But looking further ahead -- the next five years -- 50 percent said democracy and 36 percent said a strong Iraqi leader.
The survey showed confusion among many Iraqis about who they would vote for in an election, no matter which party, politician or religious leader was running.
Asked about the invasion of Iraq in the spring of last year, 59 percent said it was somewhat wrong or absolutely wrong, while 41 percent said it was somewhat or absolutely right.
More than 80 percent of Iraqis said they have no confidence in US and British forces. Asked about their presence in Iraq, 58 percent opposed it, and 42 percent supported it.
Asked to characterize the forces, 72 percent called them either occupiers or exploiters, while nearly 28 percent called them liberators or peacekeepers.
Sahm said one reason that the popularity of the coalition forces has fallen to its lowest point in the last of the four surveys was the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison.
Nearly 70 percent of those questioned said they were surprised to hear about the human rights abuses by American forces there.
But only a third said the coalition forces should leave now.
Sahm said many Iraqis are so worried about the violence in their country that many want coalition forces to remain while the new interim government begins its work.
"The Iraqis are pragmatic. They don't like the fact that the US-led forces are there, but they need them for security," Sahm said.
More than 62 percent of the Iraqis surveyed said they believed the security situation would improve in Iraq under the interim government.
The poll questioned 3,002 Iraqis across Iraq between May 19 and June 14. It was conducted by Oxford Research International and funded by the University of Oxford. The margin of error was 1.82 percentage points.
RSS