Iraqi reconciliation made easy

By Libby

I didn't know realize the extent of polling being done in Iraq, including some contracted to outside companies by our own MNF, currently led by Saint Petraeus who gets daily briefings on the mood of the public there. In extraordinarily good news, the latest polling shows an easy path to reconcilation.

Iraqis of all sectarian and ethnic groups believe that the U.S. military invasion is the primary root of the violent differences among them, and see the departure of "occupying forces" as the key to national reconciliation, according to focus groups conducted for the U.S. military last month.

I don't know how the path to stability could be any more clear to that. The Iraqis want us to leave so they can solve their own differences. Forget the flypaper theory, we're the fly in the ointment. Yet the White House and their patron saint of perpetual war will ignore this finding and instead tout the other 'improvements' as reasons we're 'winning' the peace and need to stay forever to maintain it.

Wow. Only 75 percent of the people of are dissatisfied with their local governors instead of 82 percent. Whoopee. Only 85 percent still don't have enough fuel for heat and cooking instead of 91 percent. Man, are we making a difference now. Gotta stay to keep up the good work.

I'm so sick of these sorry metrics being used as an excuse to stay the course. Just once, I'd like to see our 'professional media' come up with some meaningful comparisons. How many people had enough fuel before Bush invaded? How many neighborhoods were peacefully mixed Shia/Sunni before Bush bombed them into the Stone Age to 'save' them? How many were enclosed by concrete walls to 'keep the peace.' How many markets were open before Bush 'liberated' the Iraqis? How many dead bodies turned up on street corners? How many suicide bombings were there? How many deaths by IEDs?

That's the kind of information that would make the true cost of the occupation understandable to the average Jake and would lead to enough public pressure to end this occupation once and for all. It's too bad our so-called liberal press is too busy transcribing the latest White House press releases to do the job.