The following stories both appeared today
Iraqis see hope drain away
Jobs gone and schools closed. Marriages delayed and children mourned. Markets bombed and clean water in short supply. Speaking freely now a dangerous act.
And hope lost.
Four years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Iraqis describe daily lives that have been torn apart by spiraling violence and a faltering economy. The bursts of optimism reported in a 2004 public-opinion survey taken a year after the invasion and another in 2005 before landmark legislative elections have nearly vanished.
The New York Post
IRAQIS' UPBEAT VIEWS: POLL FINDS HOPE
On the eve of tomorrow's fourth anniversary of the Iraq war, a new poll finds that most Iraqis believe life is better for them now than under Saddam Hussein.
And contrary to the beliefs of many analysts, most Iraqis do not feel their country is engulfed in civil war, the survey reveals.
Though opinion is divided along sectarian lines, only 27 percent think there is a civil war, compared with 61 percent who don't.
Now you might think these papers are reporting on two different surveys: and you'd be right. The former was conducted by "USA TODAY, ABC News, the British Broadcasting Corp. and ARD, a German TV network" while the latter was conducted by "Opinion Research Business, a British market research firm that said it was the largest poll since coalition troops entered Iraq on March 20, 2003." The former polled 2,212 Iraqis while the latter 5,019 Iraqis.
But what are we to do? Two completely different assessments of Iraq, both supposedly based on the opinion of Iraqi's.
Perhaps the polls aren't so different, maybe its just the reporting.
Both polls say life is better now than it was under Saddam.
Both claim Iraqis are expecting a better future. From USA Today
Shiites are the most optimistic that their children will have a better life than they have had; two-thirds express optimism about that. So do half of the Kurds polled. But seven of 10 Sunnis predict that their children's lives will be worse.
But if that's the case, the why the headline "Iraqis see hope drain away"?
One would have to wonder if the USA Today poll oversampled Sunni's who are understandably less happy. After all they were a minority that was top tog under Saddam. Now they are just a minority. And even though the USA Today poll show that most prefer life today than under Saddam, they highlight people who long for the old days
Even some of those whose sect suffered under Saddam recall that time fondly. "I miss those good old days," said Jasim Mahmood Rajab, 60, a Shiite businessman. "I had my work and my social life, and now — nothing. I'm ready to pay everything I have to sit at Abo Nowas Street and eat fish at night."
I'm not convinced these polls tell a diiferent story, but the articles sure do.
Then there's this
Black-clad women shuffle past sidewalk clothing racks in front of shops in a commercial district of central Baghdad. Elsewhere, black flags flutter from lampposts — marking areas of Shiite control.
A two-hour drive by Western journalists through the center of Baghdad this weekend showed parts of the capital are slowly recovering from the trauma of sectarian slaughter that paralyzed this city of 6 million before the start of the security crackdown last month....
Within the sectarian bastions, commerce is beginning to rebound, along with other signs of normalcy — though many shops remain padlocked. Some streets appear relatively lively. Others are all but abandoned....
Vendors hawk oranges, bananas and vegetables from outdoor stalls around Tayaran Square, a Shiite-controlled area that has been struck frequently by suicide attackers and roadside bombs.
At Kahramanah Square in Karradah, workmen were out repainting a concrete barrier, where a suicide driver two days before had killed eight people — three soldiers and five civilians.
Elsewhere in Karradah, shoppers were returning to the main commercial streets, though not in the numbers of a few years ago. Soon after Saddam Hussein's regime collapsed, people flocked to shops to buy new television sets and satellite dishes — forbidden under the old regime.
