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Polls show Iraqis want U.S. to leave

An man inspects a vehicle after a car bomb exploded Tuesday in Baghdad. The blast killed four people, including a police officer. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Amit R. Paley Washington Post
An man inspects a vehicle after a car bomb exploded Tuesday in Baghdad. The blast killed four people, including a police officer. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

BAGHDAD, Iraq – A strong majority of Iraqis want U.S.-led military forces to withdraw from the country immediately, saying their swift departure would make the country more secure and decrease sectarian violence, according to new polls by the State Department and independent researchers.

In Baghdad, for example, nearly three-quarters of residents polled said they would feel safer if U.S. and other foreign forces left, with 65 percent of those asked favoring an immediate pullout, according to polling results obtained by the Washington Post.

Another poll, scheduled to be released today by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland, found that 71 percent of Iraqis questioned want the Iraqi government to ask foreign forces to depart within a year. By large margins, though, Iraqis believed that the U.S. government would refuse the request, with 77 percent of those polled saying the United States intends to keep permanent military bases in the country.

The stark assessments, among the most negative attitudes toward U.S.-led forces since they invaded in 2003, contrast sharply with views expressed by the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Last week at the United Nations, President Jalal Talabani said coalition troops should remain in the country until Iraqi security forces are “capable of ending terrorism and maintaining stability and security.”

Recent polls show many Iraqis in nearly every part of the country disagree.

“Majorities in all regions except Kurdish areas state that the Multi-National Force-Iraq (MNF-I) should withdraw immediately, adding that the MNF-I’s departure would make them feel safer and decrease violence,” concludes the 20-page State Department report, titled “Iraq Civil War Fears Remain High in Sunni and Mixed Areas.” The report was based on 1,870 face-to-face interviews conducted from June 26 to July 6.

The Program on International Policy Attitudes poll, which was conducted over the first three days of September for WorldPublicOpinion.org, found that support among Sunnis for a withdrawal of all U.S.-led forces within six months dropped to 57 percent in September from 83 percent in January.

“There is a kind of softening of Sunni attitudes toward the U.S.,” said Steven Kull, director of PIPA and editor of WorldPub licOpinion.org. “But you can’t go so far as to say the majority of Sunnis don’t want the U.S. out. They do. They’re just not quite in the same hurry as they were before.”

The PIPA poll, which has a margin of error of 3 percentage points, was carried out in all 18 provinces by Iraqis who conducted interviews with more than 1,000 randomly selected Iraqis in their homes.