Poof! The Times makes an inconvenient poll of Iraqis disappear

The New York Times reporter Michael Gordon types up an he-said-she-said report (courtesy of The Left Coaster) that is the virtual equivalent of an Administration press release: quoting primarily military big-shots and Iraqis who are part of the U.S.-created government to report that the U.S. occupation should continue indefinitely to prevent a bloodbath. “Indefinitely,” as in when Iraqi security forces are ready to take over.

When have we heard that before? It was almost two years ago now that George Bush issued his strategy statement, “As the Iraqis stand up, we will stand down.” He claimed that 160,000 Iraqis were trained and equipped. We were supposedly making great progress then. Notice how we never see reports of how many Iraqis are trained and equipped anymore. How many Iraqis have “stood up”? We have supposedly been training Iraqis to perform security functions for over four years now. You would think there would be enough by now.

The article cites an ABC poll of Iraqis suggesting that a majority want us to “stay-the-course.” But whatever happened to the Program on International Attitudes poll PIPA) that was reported back in September showing gigantic majorities of both Sunnis and Shias wanting us to get out within one year? Most startling is that substantial majorities said they believe the violence level would actually decrease if we were not there complicating the picture. Even the majority of Kurds, the most friendly to our presence as protecting their operational independence, said they wanted a timetable of no more than two years, with a plurality saying immediately or within one year. That survey, if valid, puts the lie to the entire premise of Mr. Gordon’s report and the President’s policy. It seems blatantly irresponsible to just pretend that inconvenient survey does not exist.