Secret MoD Poll: Iraqi's Support Attacks On British Troops

By-Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent.
Filed-23/10/2005

Millions of Iraqi's believe that suicide attacks against British troops are justified, a secret military poll commissioned by senior officers has revealed.

The poll, undertaken for the Ministry of Defence and seen by the Sunday Telegraph, shows that up to 65 per cent of Iraqi Citizens support attacks and fewer than one percent think allied military involvement is helping to improve security in their Country.

It demonstrates for the first time the true strength of anti-Western feeling in Iraq after more than two and a half years of bloody occupation.

The nationwide survey also suggests that the coalition has lost the battle to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi People, which Tony Blair and George W. Bush believed was fundamental to creating a safe and secure Country.

The secret poll appears to contradict claims made by Gen. Sir. Mike Jackson, the Chief of the General Staff, who only days ago congratulated British soldiers for "supporting the Iraqi People in building a new and better Iraq."

Andrew Robathan, a former member of the SAS and the Tory Shadow Defence Minister, said last night that the poll clearly showed a complete failure of government policy. He said: "this clearly states that the government's hearts-and-minds policy has been disastrous. The coalition is now part of the problem and not the solution."

The Poll Reveals:

• forty-five per cent of Iraqi's believe attacks against British and American troops are justified-rising to 65 per cent in the British-Controlled Maysan Province;
• 82 per cent are "strongly opposed" to the presence of coalition troops;
• less than one per cent of the population believes coalition forces are responsible for any improvement in security;
• 67 per cent of Iraqi's feel less secure because of the coalition;
• 43 per cent of Iraqi's believe conditions for peace and stability have worsened;
• 72 per cent do not have confidence in the multi-national forces.

The opinion poll, carried out in August, also debunks claims by both the US and British governments that the general well-being of the average Iraqi is improving in post-Saddam Iraq.

Immediately after the war the coalition embarked on a campaign of reconstruction in which it hoped to improve the electricity supply and the quality of drinking water. That appears to have failed, with the poll showing that 71 per cent of people rarely get safe clean water, 47 per cent never have enough electricity, 70 per cent say their sewerage system rarely works and 40 percent of Southern Iraqi's are unemployed.

http://telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/10/23/wirq23.xml