[quote=“fred smith”]I’m sorry. I was wrong about the 80 percent optimism figure. I guess it is 90 percent. Sorry about the mistake.
[quote]An International Republican Institute poll conducted from February 27 to March 5, 2005 shows that a majority of Iraqis are optimistic about the direction of their country and hopeful for their future. Results also show a majority of Iraqis feel the January 30 election was fair and impartial and that the Transitional National Assembly (TNA) will represent the Iraqi people as a whole. To view a complete poll presentation click on the link below.
“The optimism of the Iraqi people continues to grow as they move forward in building a democratic Iraq,” said Lorne Craner, president of IRI. “The increased optimism in Iraq is a clear result of the country’s successful January 30 election.”
The new survey revealed that 61.5 percent of Iraqis believe that their country is headed in the right direction compared to only 23.2 percent who feel Iraq is headed in the wrong direction. The nearly 40 point margin between right direction and wrong direction is the largest since IRI began polling in May 2004, and this margin is more than double what it was in the poll taken from January 13 to 25, 2005. The current poll further shows that more than 90 percent of Iraqis feel hopeful for their future.
Looking ahead to the constitutional process, more than 56 percent of Iraqis know that the TNA will be responsible for writing a permanent constitution. This number is up from 32.9 percent in the November 24 to December 5, 2004 poll. An additional 52.6 percent understood that the constitution drafted by the TNA will have to be approved by national referendum later in the year.
www.iri.org. [/quote]
As to the power, there is supply but demand is increasing greatly due to the fact that for the first time Baghdad is not getting all the power and because of all the electronic devices that flooded into the country. This week’s Economist magazine noted that economic growth in Iraq in 2004 was 50 percent. Do you understand? 50 percent. Wonder why this didn’t appear in any headlines? Do you have any understanding of how economic growth leads to increased power consumption?[/quote]
Fred, I can not get into the iri.org website. I’d be interested in knowing who they are, and looking at the methodology used in their study/poll. As we both know, statistics can be distorted.
I have read that the demand for electricity has increased markedly, but the end result is frequent brown outs, and I wonder how many tribesmen out there in Sunni land or the Sadr slum can appreciate this? The attacks on infrastructure such as the electrical grid also continue and as a result exacerbate the problem. The US needs to get a handle on this if it expects to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqis - and hold them. I think this is probably too late though. The U.S. has already failed to markedly improve quality of life there.
[quote]In Iraq, Living Conditions “Tragic”
By Niko Kyriakou
Inter Press Service
May 16, 2005
Iraqis’ living conditions have deteriorated and pose challenges for development efforts two years after the US-led invasion, says a groundbreaking new joint Iraqi-United Nations report. The Iraq Living Conditions Survey (ILCS), based on data from 22,000 households and released last week, is the first comprehensive statistical description of living standards in the country produced in years and is expected to steer future reconstruction and development assistance, officials said.
“This survey shows a rather tragic situation of the quality of life in Iraq,” Barham Salih, Iraq’s minister of planning, said in a statement. Household surveys were conducted last year and measured indicators ranging from health to employment, housing, status of and access to public services, education, income and war-related deaths. The report estimates the number of Iraqis who have died since the US-led invasion of 2003 somewhere between 18,000 and 29,000. Of those deaths, 12% were children under 18 years of age, meaning that between 2,100 and 3,500 children have been killed in the war thus far, according to ILCS data.
globalpolicy.org/security/is … tragic.htm[/quote]
[quote]Reconstruction has made scant progress in war-torn Iraq since the March 2003 US invasion. Continuing US military operations against the Iraqi resistance have destroyed urban centers such as Fallujah, Ramadi and Najaf and are likely to cause still more damage. The resistance, in turn, has sabotaged Iraq