71% Of Iraqi's say life is going good! And some other eye opening good news...

Think its all Doom & Gloom in Iraq? Then you have been suckered by the media and the haters in general.

The truth is quite different. Here are some numbers to open your eyes:

(Taken from an ABC poll here)

- 7 in 10 Iraqis feel things are going well

- Two thirds of Iraqi's polled feel things will improve in the next year

- More than six in 10 Iraqis feel very safe in their own neighborhoods (up from 4 last June)

- 61% say local security is good, up from 49% last year

- Average household incomes have soared by 60 percent in the last 20 months

- 70% of Iraqis rate their own economic situation positively, and consumer goods are sweeping the country

- In early 2004, 6 percent of Iraqi households had cell phones; now it's 62 percent

- Ownership of satellite dishes has nearly tripled

- Many more families now own air conditioners (58 percent, up from 44 percent), cars, washing machines and kitchen appliances.

- Three-quarters of Iraqis express confidence in the national elections being held this week

- 70% approve of the new constitution

- 70% — including most people in Sunni and Shiite areas alike — want Iraq to remain a unified country

- Preference for a democratic political structure has advanced, to 57% of Iraqis, while support for an Islamic state has lost ground, to 14% (the rest, 26%, chiefly in Sunni Arab areas, favor a "single strong leader.")

VIVA IRAQ!!!


And thanks to all the brave coalition and ISF soldiers that have made all this possoible!!!

Thank you for supplying the LINK to that story - it makes for VERY interesting reading.... talk about selective quoting there skippyjc


i do think the boys want to come home in time for christmas (but when)

So you gonna take a vacation in Iraq, skippy? You seem to think it's the next Las Vegas.

Anyway, I don't doubt anything you posted, but everything you did post is mainly a matter of state of mind. I also have trouble with the increases in household income and purchases of cell phones and satellite dishes.

Those haters like the Iraqi people, huh? Granted you're not "Fox News". You're under no obligation to be "Fair and Balanced", but I don't know if I'd go around screaming "Mission Accomplished" just yet.

Negatives

Other views, moreover, are more negative: Fewer than half, 46 percent, say the country is better off now than it was before the war. And half of Iraqis now say it was wrong for U.S.-led forces to invade in spring 2003, up from 39 percent in 2004.

The number of Iraqis who say things are going well in their country overall is just 44 percent, far fewer than the 71 percent who say their own lives are going well. Fifty-two percent instead say the country is doing badly.

There's other evidence of the United States' increasing unpopularity: Two-thirds now oppose the presence of U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq, 14 points higher than in February 2004. Nearly six in 10 disapprove of how the United States has operated in Iraq since the war, and most of them disapprove strongly. And nearly half of Iraqis would like to see U.S. forces leave soon.

Specifically, 26 percent of Iraqis say U.S. and other coalition forces should "leave now" and another 19 percent say they should go after the government chosen in this week's election takes office; that adds to 45 percent. Roughly the other half says coalition forces should remain until security is restored (31 percent), until Iraqi security forces can operate independently (16 percent), or longer (5 percent).

This survey was sponsored by ABC News with partners Time, the BBC, the Japanese network NHK and the German newsmagazine Der Spiegel, with fieldwork by Oxford Research International. It consists of in-person interviews with a random national sample of 1,711 Iraqis from early October through mid-November.

There were limitations on questions in the survey because of security concerns; given the sectarian violence, Iraqis were not asked their religious doctrine, Sunni or Shiite. Instead this analysis looks at Sunni-dominated, Shia-dominated, mixed and Kurdish regions, using previous data to categorize provinces.

Occurs the Shiites are grateful to the US for putting them in power, look at the polls they even have Cellular phones.

Originally posted by marg6043
Occurs the Shiites are grateful to the US for putting them in power, look at the polls they even have Cellular phones.

HA HA, never even though of that!

Honestly, I'm glad that things are going so well in Iraq, but it's definitely not the perfect picture skippy paints. A lot of places still don't even have running water, which tells me that perhaps what we see in the news isn't so inaccurate after all.

Originally posted by Harlequin
Thank you for supplying the LINK to that story - it makes for VERY interesting reading.... talk about selective quoting there skippyjc


i do think the boys want to come home in time for christmas (but when)

My post is about good news, we all hear about the bad stuff all day, so why quote it? And your mention of "selective quoting" only proves my point. People like you "slectively" dont want to hear about the positive things going on, as it goes against your agenda of western hatred.

its allways good when theres GENUINE good news - but as you proved with your selective quoting the good news is allways surrounded by bad news.

it would be nice for more people to have running water and electricity (as an example) , its still not the vacation destination that you are painting there skippy.

The numbers of the poll just don't seem to add up.

7 in 10 say their lives are going well? ?!

More than half of Iraqis (again 54 percent) have electricity for no more than eight hours a day. Just 5 percent have it around the clock.

Among Iraqis who drive, seven in 10 say they encounter fuel lines. Just under half say they say they wait for hours; a quarter, for days.

Two-thirds of Iraqis also report waiting lines for another necessity, heating or cooking fuel. Four in 10 say they wait for hours; just under three in 10, for days.

As noted, 63 percent feel very safe in their own neighborhood, up sharply from an Oxford poll in June 2004. But again Sunni- and Shia-area differences are profound. Eighty percent of people in Shiite areas feel safe in their neighborhood; that dives to 11 percent in predominantly Sunni provinces. (37% of people feel unsafe in their own neighbourhoods and this is somehow positive?)

Iraqis were asked in this survey what makes them feel unsafe, or if, instead, they feel safe. In a notable improvement, 51 percent say they feel safe — nearly double what it was in June 2004.

Among the half of Iraqis who do feel unsafe, the main reason given, by far, is terrorism. And many in this "unsafe" group "very often" take a range of steps: avoiding U.S. forces (67 percent), avoiding checkpoints (52 percent), avoiding police and government buildings (47 percent), and being careful what they say (43 percent).

I can't really see how so many have so many concerns and yet 7 out of 10 feel life is going good? Something doesn't add up.

Originally posted by sweatmonicaIdo
Honestly, I'm glad that things are going so well in Iraq, but it's definitely not the perfect picture skippy paints. A lot of places still don't even have running water, which tells me that perhaps what we see in the news isn't so inaccurate after all.

But then a lot of places in iraq never had running water. Guess (in the minds of the haters) it's now Bush's fault that they still don't. And if things get good enough that the iraqis can start to enjoy the trappings of modern civilization, well, that's bad too (because of Bush), because we don't want them to have those and/or can't stand the thought of Bush getting any credit for something positive.

A glass half empty or half full is still the same glass.


[edit on 12/12/2005 by centurion1211]

Originally posted by Jakomo


I can't really see how so many have so many concerns and yet 7 out of 10 feel life is going good? Something doesn't add up.

Depends on where the poll was taken at. Makes you wonder. Must be the Kurds or Shiites. But remember that they dont poll everyone just poll a couple of hundred and they guess that mean it should represent the rest of the province or region.

Interviews for the poll were conducted Oct. 8 to Nov. 22, 2005, in person, in Arabic and Kurdish, among a random national sample of 1,711 Iraqis age 15 and up. (Oxford Research International)

1700 people, good enough for me


Funny, the people on these boards seem to have a better idea how the Iraqis feel than the Iraqi's themselves...Funny how that is isnt it?

Originally posted by skippytjc
Funny, the people on these boards seem to have a better idea how the Iraqis feel than the Iraqi's themselves...Funny how that is isnt it?

Yeah, it's quite humorous, I TOTALLY agree!

Originally posted by centurion1211
But then a lot of places in iraq never had running water. Guess (in the minds of the haters) it's now Bush's fault that they still don't. And if things get good enough that the iraqis can start to enjoy the trappings of modern civilization, well, that's bad too (because of Bush), because we don't want them to have those and/or can't stand the thought of Bush getting any credit for something positive.

A glass half empty or half full is still the same glass.


[edit on 12/12/2005 by centurion1211]

Well, that's pretty much the victim complex in you working up again. Say what you will, but it's more legitimate to say you don't care for the Iraq people, if the above is gonna be your line of thinking.

Originally posted by skippytjc

Funny, the people on these boards seem to have a better idea how the Iraqis feel than the Iraqi's themselves...Funny how that is isnt it?

The reason for that is simple. Good news about iraq doesn't square with what they want to see happen. These people are very willing to see American soldiers die and to even lose the war if it helps them with their main goal in life - which is to make Bush look bad. Anything goes and nothing else matters in their quest to reach that goal.

Originally posted by sweatmonicaIdo
[Well, that's pretty much the victim complex in you working up again. Say what you will, but it's more legitimate to say you don't care for the Iraq people, if the above is gonna be your line of thinking.

Meaningless words strung together to create the appearance of a sentence or two.

centurion:

But then a lot of places in iraq never had running water. Guess (in the minds of the haters) it's now Bush's fault that they still don't. And if things get good enough that the iraqis can start to enjoy the trappings of modern civilization, well, that's bad too (because of Bush)

Actually, Iraq was one of the most ADVANCED, WESTERNIZED countries in all of the Middle East after Israel.

They've had running water for thousands of years in some places. Their civilization predates yours by, again, THOUSANDS of years. Civilization BEGAN there. Are you really that ignorant?

As for enjoying the trappings of modern civilization: Where do you get your info? Like I said, Iraq has always been on of the most modern of all Arabic countries. Google it.


Honestly, people's ignorance and arrogance is so disappointing sometimes.






[edit on 12-12-2005 by Jakomo]

Originally posted by centurion1211
The reason for that is simple. Good news about iraq doesn't square with what they want to see happen. These people are very willing to see American soldiers die and to even lose the war if it helps them with their main goal in life - which is to make Bush look bad. Anything goes and nothing else matters in their quest to reach that goal.

And that's different from your wish for 24/7 war and your main goal in life - to make those who disagree with you look bad, perhaps eradicate them? Not saying you're wrong, but I'm not seeing any truth to what you say.

Originally posted by centurion1211
Meaningless words strung together to create the appearance of a sentence or two.

Good stuff.

One poll.

It's nice it seems to go against the flow.

(but I am interested that previous polls showing a less than enthusiastic response just get ignored........or worse, labelled as the contrary opinion and views of "the haters", whatever that is meant to mean )

This is also from the survey dated dec 2005, I guess it depends what you want to pick out of this -

Poll by Oxford Research International (11 Dec 2005)

1,711 Iraqis surveyed throughout the country in Oct/Nov 2005.

Results were consistent with previous ORI polls, but were widely interpreted as showing greater optimism about current and future conditions than previous polls.

Interviewers found that 71% of those questioned said things were currently very or quite good in their personal lives, while 29% found their lives very or quite bad.

However, Iraqis appear to have a more negative view of the overall situation in their country, with 53% answering that the situation is bad, and 44% saying it is good.

Preference for strong leadership was strong: half of those questioned felt Iraq needed a single, strong leader following December's elections, but this fell to 31% in 5 years time.

Also, 50.3 per cent of Iraqis polled answered that the 2003 invasion was somewhat or absolutely wrong. That’s an increase from 39.1 per cent in a similar survey in March 2004

BBC Online provides some analysis and makes available the full poll results.

www.iraqanalysis.org...

....or try this one, dated 23rd October 2005 from the Daily Telegraph (as right-wing paper as we get here in the UK) -

Millions of Iraqis 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 per cent think Allied military involvement is helping to improve security in their country.


Andrew Robathan: Government policy 'disastrous'
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.

telegraph.co.ukl

There are quite a few surveys out there if you want to look.

BBC news refer to the last big opinion poll being done in march 2004.



[edit on 12-12-2005 by sminkeypinkey]


mod edit to shorten link

[edit on 5-1-2006 by DontTreadOnMe]