So is Iraq better off without Saddam?

According to a poll sponsored jointly by ABC, BBC and USA Today: Only 38 percent of Iraqis believe that the country is better off today than under Saddam Hussein, while nearly four out of five (80%) oppose the presence of coalition forces in Iraq.

The poll, part of a series conducted each of the past three years at great risk to 150 pollsters, reveals a sharp rise in anti-American feeling and disapproval of the 2003 invasion. Asked to judge how the United States and other coalition forces have carried out their responsibilities in Iraq, 76 percent say they have done "a bad job."

So is Iraq itself better off without Saddam?

Almost four in five of those Iraqis polled called the availability of jobs "bad," 88 percent had the same negative judgment of the supply of electricity, and 69 percent said the same about the availability of clean water and medical care.

Furthermore, in this nation gifted with the world's second-largest oil reserves, 88 percent termed the availability of fuel for cooking and driving as quite bad.

Four out of 10 said they blame the coalition forces or Bush for "the most for the violence that is occurring in the country"--and only 18 percent cited "al-Qaida and foreign jihads." So much for Bush's claim that U.S. troops are needed in Iraq to protect its citizens from foreign terrorists.

[excerpt courtesy of truthdig.com]