Poll Shows Iraqis Would Feel Safer Without Occupiers

The poll, conducted in May and obtained by Reuters on Thursday, found only 10 percent of Iraqis had confidence in U.S.-led forces -- down from 28 percent in January. Fifty-five percent would feel safer if those troops left Iraq immediately.

U.S. officials have said the results reflect the fact Iraqis dislike being occupied, but expect disenchantment to fade after the formal transfer of sovereignty to an Iraqi interim government in less than two weeks.

They have blamed any loss of confidence on almost daily attacks by insurgents bent on undermining plans for the U.S.-led occupation to give way to Iraqi rule.

A suicide car bomber killed 35 people at an Iraqi military base in Baghdad Thursday in the third attack of its kind in the capital this week.

With security topping the list of concerns for Iraqis, 67 percent of those polled blamed an increase in violent attacks around the country on a loss of faith in U.S.-led forces.

But the poll suggested Iraqis were generally optimistic about their future. Of the 1,093 Iraqis interviewed face-to-face in six Iraqi cities, more than 60 percent thought having an interim government in place would improve the situation in Iraq.

In contrast to the low confidence in the occupying powers, 62 percent of Iraqis thought it was very likely the Iraqi police and army would maintain security without U.S.-led forces.

And despite frequent attacks on Iraqi police and troops, 51 percent said they were more interested in joining Iraqi security forces than they were three months ago.

The poll, the first since a scandal over the abuse of Iraqi detainees by U.S. troops at the Abu Ghraib prison, found that 61 percent of Iraqis thought no one would be punished.

The scandal over abuses at U.S.-run prisons in Iraq has severely damaged Washington's image in the country.

The poll also indicated growing support for rebel Shi'ite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who launched an uprising against U.S. forces in the holy city of Najaf in April.

Eighty-one percent said their opinion of Sadr, who this week told his fighters to go home, was better or much better than it was three months ago. But only 22 of the 1,093 people interviewed would pick him to lead Iraq.

That was less than the 37 who said they wanted Saddam Hussein back as president.

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