Hearts and Minds

Forty-five percent of Iraqis believe attacks on U.S. and British troops are justified, according to a secret poll said to have been commissioned by British defense leaders and cited by The Sunday Telegraph.

Less than 1 percent of those polled believed that the forces were responsible for any improvement in security, according to poll figures.

Eighty-two percent of those polled said they were "strongly opposed" to the presence of the troops.

The paper said the poll, conducted in August by an Iraqi university research team, was commissioned by the Ministry of Defense.

Okay, so polls of Iraqis show they don't want US forces there. And polls of Americans show that we don't want US forces there. And I would wager that if you were to poll the US forces, given the free choice, they would prefer not to be there.

So what am I missing?