Iraq's rebel cleric gains surge in popularity FT.com - Financial Times May 19 2004 21:49

An Iraqi poll to be released next week shows a surge in the popularity of Moqtada al-Sadr, the radical young Shia cleric fighting coalition forces, and suggests nearly nine out of 10 Iraqis see US troops as occupiers and not liberators or peacekeepers.

The poll was conducted by the one-year-old Iraq Center for Research and Strategic Studies, which is considered reliable enough for the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority to have submitted questions to be included in the study.

Although the results of any poll in Iraq's traumatised society should be taken with caution, the survey highlights the difficulties facing the US authorities in Baghdad as they confront Mr Sadr, who launched an insurgency against the US-led occupation last month.

Conducted before the Abu Ghraib prisoners' scandal, it also suggests a severe erosion of American credibility even before Iraqis were confronted with images of torture at the hands of US soldiers.

Saadoun Duleimi, head of the centre, said more than half of a representative sample - comprising 1,600 Shia, Sunni Arabs and Kurds polled in all Iraq's main regions - wanted coalition troops to leave Iraq. This compares with about 20 per cent in an October survey. Some 88 per cent of respondents said they now regarded coalition forces in Iraq as occupiers.

"Iraqis always contrast American actions with American promises and there's now a wide gap in credibility," said Mr Duleimi, who belongs to one of the country's big Sunni tribes. "In this climate, fighting has given Moqtada credibility because he's the only Iraqi man who stood up against the occupation forces."

-- Curious (mean&hateful@hotmail.com), May 19, 2004

Answers

Boy, is this thread going to attract some attention!!! Here we go!

-- The Bumper! (Bump@bumpitybump.bump), May 20, 2004.

An Iraqi poll to be released next week

Let's wait until it comes out before commenting on it.

-- Bill Nelson (bnelson45-nospam@hotmail.com), May 20, 2004.

someone just told me this is an old poll done in April before recent events. I guess we will have to see what it says and when it said it was conducted, with whom and how.

-- Bill Nelson (bnelson45-nospam@hotmail.com), May 20, 2004.

someone just told me this is an old poll done in April before recent events.

Yikes! If that's true, it means they hate us EVEN MORE now.

-- Bennie (Bennie@Bennie.com), May 20, 2004.

Ummmm, maybe because someone bombed the crap out of their country!!!!

-- Anon (none@none.com), May 28, 2004.