Slog & Surge

Regarding the ABC News, the BBC and the Japanese broadcaster NHK Iraq poll.

From ThinkProgress:

Overall conditions:
39 percent say “their lives are going well,” down from 71 percent in Nov. 2005.
23 percent say things will be better in a year, one-third of the Nov. 2005 level.
23 percent report “effective reconstruction efforts in their local area,” down 10 points since March.

On the U.S. presence:
79 percent oppose the presence of coalition forces, unchanged since winter.
63 percent say it was wrong for the U.S. to have invaded Iraq, up from 52 percent in March and 39 percent in Feb. 2004.
47 percent now favor “immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces,” a 12-point rise since March.

Statements from the original .pdf file of the poll:

"In a better result for the United States, fewer now blame U.S. or coalition forces directly for the violence occurring in Iraq – 19 percent, down from 31 percent six months ago; as many (21 percent) blame al Qaeda. (Eight percent blame George W. Bush personally.)

If the United States is unpopular, others fare no better. Seventy-nine percent of Iraqis believe Iran is actively engaged in encouraging sectarian violence in Iraq, up eight points; majorities also suspect Saudi Arabia and Syria of fomenting violence."

-----'Scuse me, but – if fewer Iraqis now blame the US forces for the violence, down from 31 percent to 19 percent, and a majority of Iraqi, 79 percent, believe Iran, Saudi, and Syria are fomenting violence in Iraq – what do Iraqis think will happen when the US pulls an immediate withdrawal?