and found that most Iraqis support it. They know firsthand the cost of keeping a murdering dictator in charge.

Iraq: Go Invade My Space

A new report shows many Iraqis support the idea of a U.S. invasion

Dec. 23 issue — As the United States gears up for a possible invasion of Iraq, the media’s been quick to provide polls showing almost universal opposition to war. We know how the Saudis, Russians, French, Germans, Britons, Kuwaitis and Turks feel—and almost everybody’s against it. Everybody except the Iraqis.



IN A REPORT released early this month, International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think tank, found that most Iraqis interviewed support the idea of an invasion, as well as U.S. occupation during the transition to a post-Saddam government. Iraqis have had it with more than a decade of impoverishment, isolation and fear, says the study’s researcher who asked not to be named. “I found very few people who were against American intervention,” the researcher says. “People are depressed, exhausted. They can’t take it anymore.” Those against intervention, she says, enjoyed privileges under the regime, or they feared Americans would call for a rising against Saddam, then abandon it (as in the aftermath of the Kuwait war in 1991). But a young Baghdad architect summarizes the majority opinion: “We do not particularly want a U.S. military strike, but we do want a political change. We have nothing to lose, and it cannot be any worse than our current condition.”

—Colin Soloway