Iraqis support insurgency

last updated 8 January 2015

Baghdad

Three out of five Iraqis approve of attacks on U.S. forces, according to a new poll by the University of Maryland. Support for attacks on coalition forces has jumped sharply, the poll found, from 47 percent in January to 71 percent at the beginning of October. The increase in anti-American sentiment is almost entirely on the Shiite side; Sunnis were already overwhelmingly supportive of the insurgency. The poll also found that 80 percent of Iraqis believe the U.S. troop presence provokes more violence than it prevents. The State Department, which also recently conducted a poll of Iraqis, found that two-thirds felt they would be safer if U.S. forces left immediately, The Washington Post reported. Department spokesman Sean McCormack would not comment, except to say that “anecdotal evidence” suggests Iraqis “appreciate our presence there.”