Yes, at least according to the Iraqis. This, from the London Times Online:
Four bloody and difficult years after the invasion of Iraq, it is easy to despair over its future. Much of the reporting on television and radio, and in most newspapers, conveys the picture of a country ravaged by a vicious civil war, suffering ever more appalling terrorist outrages. Many believe that the war was a dreadful mistake from which Iraq will take decades to recover and that its people would happily prostrate themselves in front of Saddam Hussein again if the hangman’s noose had not intervened.
However, a survey of more than 5,000 Iraqis by Opinion Research Business, a reliable pollster, gives an utterly different view. It shows a country which is far more optimistic than anyone would have expected. By two to one, Iraqis say that life is better under the present system. There is, as might be expected, a clear Sunni-Shi’ite split. But even 29% of Sunnis, who had it pretty easy under Saddam, say things are better now.
Reasonable Americans may well wonder whether America has benefited from the war. Reasonable Iraqis clearly think that Iraq has benefited. As the Times points out, this is remarkable, considering the enormous inconveniences and appalling violence that the war has cost. Americans, largely immune to civil violence and with no memory of tyranny may find this hard to grasp. But hope and freedom are scarce commodities in the Middle East.
The poll does raise challenges both to Bush's policy and to his critics.
Only a quarter of Iraqis think their country is in civil war. And they also believe, by two to one, that security will improve once American and British troops withdraw. This is a rejoinder to those who believe withdrawal would unleash an all-out struggle between Shi’ites and Sunnis. The current American troop surge appears to have been a considerable success in reducing levels of violence, again contrary to conventional wisdom. True, it may be temporary, but it is working.
Maybe an American withdrawal would be a good thing. But there is little doubt that President Bush's current "surge" policy has yielded significant rewards.
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