ibstolidude
04-06-2004, 08:35 AM
Poll: Most Iraq Shia Arabs Oppose Attacks
Mon Apr 5, 7:15 PM ET
By The Associated Press
Shia Arabs in Iraq (news - web sites) generally do not support attacks against coalition forces like the ones that occurred over the weekend, according to a nationwide poll of Iraqis.
On Sunday, Shia Arabs in several parts of the country fought with coalition forces, killing at least 52 Iraqis and nine coalition troops. The confrontation threatened to open a dangerous new front: a confrontation with Iraq's powerful Shia majority, which has until now largely avoided violence with the Americans.
Attempts by U.S. troops to arrest Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr have heightened tensions with Iraq's Shia majority at a time when those troops already face the Sunni guerrillas' bloody insurgency.
Anger at the United States peaks among Sunni Arabs, especially those who live in the central Iraq province of Anbar. That province includes Fallujah, where four contractors were killed and their bodies mutilated last week.
Shias are less likely than Sunnis to say the invasion of Iraq was wrong — by about 30 percentage points. And only one in 10 Shias say attacks on coalition forces are acceptable, compared with three in 10 Sunni Arabs and seven in 10 Sunnis in the Anbar province.
The poll of 2,737 Iraqis age 15 and older was conducted from Feb. 9-28 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2 percentage points, larger for subgroups like Shia Arabs. The poll was conducted by Oxford Research International for ABC News, the BBC, the German network ARD and the Japanese network NHK.
Mon Apr 5, 7:15 PM ET
By The Associated Press
Shia Arabs in Iraq (news - web sites) generally do not support attacks against coalition forces like the ones that occurred over the weekend, according to a nationwide poll of Iraqis.
On Sunday, Shia Arabs in several parts of the country fought with coalition forces, killing at least 52 Iraqis and nine coalition troops. The confrontation threatened to open a dangerous new front: a confrontation with Iraq's powerful Shia majority, which has until now largely avoided violence with the Americans.
Attempts by U.S. troops to arrest Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr have heightened tensions with Iraq's Shia majority at a time when those troops already face the Sunni guerrillas' bloody insurgency.
Anger at the United States peaks among Sunni Arabs, especially those who live in the central Iraq province of Anbar. That province includes Fallujah, where four contractors were killed and their bodies mutilated last week.
Shias are less likely than Sunnis to say the invasion of Iraq was wrong — by about 30 percentage points. And only one in 10 Shias say attacks on coalition forces are acceptable, compared with three in 10 Sunni Arabs and seven in 10 Sunnis in the Anbar province.
The poll of 2,737 Iraqis age 15 and older was conducted from Feb. 9-28 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2 percentage points, larger for subgroups like Shia Arabs. The poll was conducted by Oxford Research International for ABC News, the BBC, the German network ARD and the Japanese network NHK.