A turning point in the Iraqi mess? [View All]

[True_Blue]

BALTIMORE – Historians looking back upon the American experience in Iraq may well consider the events of the first half of November to have been critical in determining the success or failure of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

In that time, scores of Americans and their allies have been killed by Iraqi insurgents. Public polling and intelligence surveys in Iraq have discovered that the average Iraqi may be pleased that Saddam Hussein is gone but clearly is not pleased that America is running Iraq.

Analysis of a Gallup Poll of Iraqis finds that fewer than 10 percent of them believe that the US invaded to help Iraqis, and even fewer believe that the US objective was to establish a true democracy in their land.

Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Inquirer got hold of a highly classified CIA report warning that an increasing number of Iraqis believe that the insurgents can defeat the American-led forces, and that the majority Shiite Muslim population might join the Sunnis to achieve that objective. This assessment reportedly was signed by the CIA station chief in Baghdad and Paul Bremer, leader of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq.
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http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/1121/p11s02-coop.html