Poll: Iraqis say surge has failed, 45% want immediate US withdrawal David Edwards and Muriel Kane

Published: Monday September 10, 2007





Print This Email This General Petraeus is expected to testify on Capitol Hill today that the surge is working and that he needs more time. However, both Congress and the American public are already skeptical about his evaluation, with a new CBS News-New York Times poll showing that 57% believe the surge has either had no impact or made things worse and that 65% want some or all of US troops to be removed from Iraq. ABC News reports also that a new poll commissioned by ABC and BBC shows that 65-70% of Iraqis say that security conditions are worse since the surge and 45% want an immediate American withdrawal. Most strikingly, in Baghdad and even in Anbar -- touted as the area of greatest US success -- attitudes towards the surge were 100% negative. Baghdad correspondent Lara Logan told CBS News that Iraqis don't feel any safer as a result of the surge and doubt that any reduction in violence will be permanent. Even American soldiers who are trying to make a difference say that the Iraqi commanders they work with are being undercut by their own government. There are no signs that either Shia or Sunni leaders have any interest in a unified, secular Iraq. The following video clips are from CBS's Early Show and ABC's Good Morning America, broadcast on September 10.



