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Another Times Heard From

You got your New York Times, then you got your London Times. NYT below, as though through a glass darkly. London Times’ considerably rosier view here, with reporting on the ground and the results of Opinion Research Business’ polling in Iraq:     

Officials in Washington and London are likely to be buoyed by the poll conducted by Opinion Research Business (ORB), a respected British market research company that funded its own survey of 5,019 Iraqis over the age of 18.

The 400 interviewers who fanned out across Iraq last month found that the sense of security felt by Baghdad residents had significantly improved since polling carried out before the US announced in January that it was sending in a “surge” of more than 20,000 extra troops.

The poll highlights the impact the sectarian violence has had. Some 26% of Iraqis - 15% of Sunnis and 34% of Shi’ites - have suffered the murder of a family member. Kidnapping has also played a terrifying role: 14% have had a relative, friend or colleague abducted, rising to 33% in Baghdad.

Yet 49% of those questioned preferred life under Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister, to living under Saddam. Only 26% said things had been better in Saddam’s era, while 16% said the two leaders were as bad as each other and the rest did not know or refused to answer.

Not surprisingly, the divisions in Iraqi society were reflected in statistics — Sunnis were more likely to back the previous Ba’athist regime (51%) while the Shi’ites (66%) preferred the Maliki government.

… The poll suggests a significant increase in support for Maliki. A survey conducted by ORB in September last year found that only 29% of Iraqis had a favourable opinion of the prime minister.

Another surprise was that only 27% believed they were caught up in a civil war. Again, that number divided along religious lines, with 41% of Sunnis believing Iraq was in a civil war, compared with only 15% of Shi’ites.

London Times includes it’s on the ground view here:

Residents of the Iraqi capital are holding their breath. For each hopeful piece of news there seems to be a car bombing or attempted assassination - such as one on the Shi’ite mayor of Sadr City last week - that threatens their security.

“One of my friends was killed by the terrorists,” he said, “but now there are a lot more Iraqi army checkpoints and I’m feeling more secure. I feel better; I can go out and do my shopping. More people have opened their stores and the markets are open longer.”

… 

“At least I don’t see bodies thrown here and there on the road, as in the days before the security plan,” said Ramya Ahmed, 35, a Shi’ite living in Adamiya, a largely Sunni neighbourhood.

Surber: US media forgot to tell Iraqis they’re in the middle of a civil war … either that or Iraqis all watch Fox.

Topics: Iraq

  Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:07 am on Sunday, March 18, 2007

6 Responses to “Another Times Heard From”

1. saltydog Says:
   March 18th, 2007 at 3:02 pm

   Those damn Iraqis just don’t play along the way they’re supposed to.

2. saltydog Says:
   March 18th, 2007 at 3:02 pm

   With the NYTs, that is.

3. Wake up America Says:
   March 18th, 2007 at 3:39 pm

   Who Knows More About Iraq?

   They speak from experience and we speak from what we see and hear on the news.

4. Who Knows More About Iraq? The Iraqi’s or the Americans? at Conservative Times--Republican GOP news source. Says:
   March 18th, 2007 at 4:10 pm

   [...] Captain’s Quarters, Strata-Sphere, Don Surber, Protein Wisdom, Jules Crittenden, Outside the Beltway, NewsBusters.org, PoliPundit, Pajamas Media, Blogs for Bush, America’s [...]

5. Poll on Conditions on Iraq « DC Direct Says:
   March 18th, 2007 at 9:31 pm

   [...] Strata-Sphere, Harry’s Place, Gateway Pundit, TigerHawk, Dean’s World, PoliPundit.com, Jules Crittenden, protein wisdom, Blogs for Bush, Pajamas Media and Middle Earth [...]

6. Robert Says:
   March 22nd, 2007 at 11:11 pm

   The Times is a newspaper published at London, England.

   The New York Times is a pale imitation published in the colonies. All newspapers that have taken the “Times” as their banner are denominated by their city of origin, e.g. New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Springfield Times, etc. The Times needs no city modifier.

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