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A U.S. army soldier is seen
during a routine patrol in Tikrit, Iraq, October 22, 2005. |
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.
Britain has more than 8,000 troops stationed in the south of Iraq, and has
had 97 soldiers killed, the most recent the victim of a roadside bomb on Tuesday
night.
