The Iraqis Know What's Going On

We've all heard the stories that things aren't going as well in Iraq as they should.

We hear the ten Democratic candidates for president telling us that President Bush has failed miserably, that the war was a fraud and that we've got to get out. Go ahead. Listen up... that is what they're saying.

The New York Times gives those candidate attacks big play on the front page.

Buried on page 16 Wednesday, The Times was forced to give 12 inches of play to a story that the Gallup polling people surveyed a fairly large group of Iraqis in and around Baghdad early this month, and found — shock of shocks — that they think the war was worth it, by a two-thirds margin.

Sixty-seven percent said they believed their lives would be better within five years than they were under the old regime. Only eight percent thought the war to remove Saddam Hussein and the Baathists (search) would make their lives worse.

That's the good news. They still don't like Bush... French President Jacques Chirac (search) has a higher approval rating. (I guess they didn't hear he was trying to keep Saddam on his throne.)

Other weird news from the poll is that the Iraqis give Paul Bremer (search), postwar administrator of Iraq, high marks. He has a higher approval rating than either Chirac or Bush.

And guess what? The Iraqis get it about another thing. They figured it out about the other Arab regimes, who foment hate against America for undertaking the war.

They know that the same people who are now bemoaning the fate of the Iraqi people were happy to let Saddam stay in power, while ordinary Iraqis suffered.

That's My Word.

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