Wingers are lying when they claim Iraqis want the US in Iraq. LYING!

Here is an example of the lie, cited uncritically in Howard Kurtz's column today:

"Murtha, Murtha, Murtha, Murtha, Murtha, Murtha, (Lieberman), Murtha, Murtha, Murtha.

"That's about how news coverage has gone the past several weeks concerning Rep. John Murtha's call to withdraw from Iraq versus Sen. Joe Lieberman's call to stand fast.

"And the media wonder why newspaper circulations are dropping and why Fox News dominates television ratings over the networks and other cable programs. It's not that Murtha doesn't deserve airtime to voice a point of view many Americans share. It's that Lieberman surely deserves at least equal time for a point of view that other Americans, as well as most Iraqis, share.

"Those who rely on traditional news sources other than The Wall Street Journal, which published an op-ed by the Connecticut senator, may not even have known that Lieberman recently returned from Iraq. Or that his conclusions were that the U.S. has to keep fighting the insurgency, and that two-thirds of Iraq is in 'pretty good shape.' You don't have to be a partisan war hawk to see the difference in treatment of these two stories, from news reports to the talking-head shows."

<My emphasis>

You may notice that Murtha has been citing much more pessimistic numbers from Iraq, saying again and again with apparent confidence, that the Iraqis not only don't want us there, they're happy when Americans and Brits are killed. Where does he get his numbers from? Well, not from the BBC, which sponsored a poll in March 2004 purtporting to show that Iraqis were hopeful about life after Saddam. I don't know for a fact if that's the poll wingers cite. It seems more likely that they just repeat some noise they've heard reverberating in their echo chamber for two years now that nicely fits their preconceptions about Iraq. But Murtha, as I say, is not citing that one. He's citing a poll conducted by the British military that was leaked to the Telegraph in October 2005:


http://telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/10/23/wirq23.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/10/23/ixportaltop.html

• Forty-five per cent of Iraqis believe attacks against British and American troops are justified - rising to 65 per cent in the British-controlled Maysan province;

• 82 per cent are "strongly opposed" to the presence of coalition troops;

• less than one per cent of the population believes coalition forces are responsible for any improvement in security;

• 67 per cent of Iraqis feel less secure because of the occupation;

• 43 per cent of Iraqis believe conditions for peace and stability have worsened;

• 72 per cent do not have confidence in the multi-national forces.

The opinion poll, carried out in August, also debunks claims by both the US and British governments that the general well-being of the average Iraqi is improving in post-Saddam Iraq.

The findings differ markedly from a survey carried out by the BBC in March 2004 in which the overwhelming consensus among the 2,500 Iraqis questioned was that life was good. More of those questioned supported the war than opposed it.

War is profitable to the wingers. Why would they tell the truth and get yanked off the WAR TIT.