Read the whole thing here.
"The political values of Iraqis are increasingly secular and nationalistic, according to a series of surveys of nationally representative samples of the population from December 2004-March 2007." According to the study, "only 18 percent of those surveyed in October 2006 thought that having an Islamic government where religious authorities have absolute power is 'very good,' compared with 26 percent surveyed in December 2004."
[T]he surveys show a decline in popular support for religious government in Iraq and an increase in support for secular political rule." Note that support among Iraqis for a religious state, now declining, was never very great to begin with.
"54 percent of Iraqis surveyed described themselves as 'Iraqis, above all,' (as opposed to 'Muslims, above all' or 'Arabs, above all') compared with just 28 percent who described themselves that way in April 2006. Three-quarters of Iraqis living in Baghdad said they thought of themselves in terms of their national identity, as Iraqis above all. 'This is a much higher proportion than we found in other Middle Eastern capitals...."
The answer to the question is obvious. The MSM has settled on a narrative, one that suits the agenda of leading Democrat politicians. It holds that the religious antagonisms in Iraq are so deeply seated in their culture and so widespread that any attempt to create a unified democratic polity must fail. The Iraqis are not, they argue, ready for democracy and won't be for a long, long time. Any attempt to impose it would produce civil war, regional destabilization and widespread religious conflict, and so the only thing for us to do is to retreat and allow the region to stew in its own medieval juices.
Evidence to the contrary, such as is reported by this survey, is either discredited or ignored. It just doesn't fit the narrative.
But the narrative seems to be changing. People are waking to the fact that there is no civil war, that the war on terrorism is not lost, and that the outcome of the Iraq intervention is still undecided.
