Poll finds most Iraqis have negative impression of US troops

Six in every 10 Iraqis said US troops in Iraq had acted badly, and 71 percent said they saw the soldiers mostly as occupiers, a new poll released on Wednesday showed.

The CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll, which was conducted between March 22 and April 9 before the latest flare-up of violence, showed 58 percent said the US troops had behaved badly while 34 percent said they had acted well.

Seventy-one percent of those surveyed said they saw the troops mostly as occupiers, while 19 percent said they viewed them as liberators.

The survey was conducted by Iraqi interviewers with 3,444 adults and covered urban and rural areas throughout Iraq, representing about 93 percent of the population. It has a samplingerror of plus or minus 2 percentage points.

The poll found that 52 percent of the respondents said attacks against US forces in Iraq could be justified some or all of the time, while 47 percent said the attacks could not be justified.

Forty-six percent of those polled said the war had done more harm than good, while only 33 percent said the war had done more good than harm.

Fifty-two percent said the ongoing US-led military action in the country was not justified, while 47 percent said it could be justified.

Asked about when they wanted US and British forces to leave, 57percent chose immediately, while 36 percent said the troops shouldstay longer.

The poll found 55 percent of the respondents gave US President George W. Bush a unfavorable rating. In comparison, 24 percent others they held a favorable opinion of the US president.

Source: Xinhua



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