Rice Falsely Asserts ‘Most Iraqis’ Want Us To Stay ... vs. ... 70% of Iraqis favor setting a timeline for the withdrawal of US forces

Think Progress � Rice Falsely Asserts ‘Most Iraqis’ Want Us To Stay: "

Condoleezza Rice, today on Meet the Press:

Some Iraqis — most Iraqis in fact — are willing, and want, to keep coalition forces there until they can take care of this themselves.

That’s not true. In fact, the Program on International Policy Attitudes conducted a poll of Iraqis in January. Here’s what the poll reported:

Asked what they would like the newly elected Iraqi government to ask the US-led forces to do, 70% of Iraqis favor setting a timeline for the withdrawal of US forces. This number divides evenly between 35% who favor a short time frame of “within six months” and 35% who favor a gradual reduction over two years. Just 29% say it should “only reduce US-led forces as the security situation improves in Iraq.”

Not only is the Bush administration out of touch with what the American public wants, it is also out of touch with what Iraqis themselves want." ...