Iraqis Believe Strongly That Things Are Getting Better
On a morning when Hillary Clinton is doing everything in her power to discredit both the mission in Iraq and the military - claiming that the Iraq War has nothing to do with national security, while at the same time trying to claim credit for what is working in Iraq - the Iraqi people are beginning to weigh in.
A just released poll conducted by BBC News, the BBC, ARD German TV and the Japanese broadcaster NHK shows that with the surge, the Iraqi people are feeling safer and more secure about their current condition, while also feeling much more optimistic about their future:
Improved security and economic conditions have reversed Iraqis’ spiral of despair,
sharply improving hopes for the country’s future. Yet deep problems remain, in terms of
security, living conditions, reconciliation and political progress alike.
Fifty-five percent of Iraqis say things in their own lives are going well, well up from 39
percent as recently as August. More, 62 percent, rate local security positively, up 19
points. And the number who expect conditions nationally to improve in the year ahead
has doubled, to 46 percent in this new national poll by ABC News, the BBC, ARD
German TV and the Japanese broadcaster NHK.
Here's a comparison graph of the Iraqi attitudinal change from August '07 until March '08, a six month period of time (graphic image from RealClearPolitics.com):
That's a remarkable change in a half a year. It clearly shows that the Iraqi people are beginning to buy into a future that is free and relatively secure. More importantly, the poll results show that the citizens of Iraq are overwhelmingly rejecting the terrorists.
This is an extremely positive development for Iraq as a nation. In order for political progress to be made, two things had to happen. First, security had to improve. Second, the Iraqi people had to become convinced that we were not going to abandon them. Iraqis were not going to put their lives on the line for political progress if they felt that they were going to be abandoned. The Bush Administration, with no help from the Democrats and certain bureaucratic sects within the government and military, have succeeded in giving the Iraqi's hope for the future.
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