According to a new poll by the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of Maryland, most Iraqis believe that the United States has no intention of leaving Iraq and plans to maintain permanent military bases in the country. The 1,150 face-to-face survey participants rejected “terrorist methods” of attacking civilians with 88% of Sunni Arabs supporting “attacks on US-led forces” occupying Iraq, echoing support for attacks found in a British Ministry of Defense poll last year. 87% of those surveyed favored the establishment of a timetable for the withdrawal of US military forces although those polled were split on whether or not to support withdrawal in six months or two years.

Indications of widespread support of attacks against US-led occupation forces came on the same day that the United Kingdom suffered its 100th soldier death and as United States solider deaths remained steady with 90 killed since the December 15, 2005 Iraqi election. In December 2005 68 soldiers were killed, pushing the total for 2500 to 846 while this month 62 soldiers were killed as the total number of US dead reached 2,242. Over the same period, deaths of Iraqi security forces remained steady. Controversy remains over the accuracy of estimates of civilian casualties, with a new study critiquing Iraq Body Count’s method (1, 2) as being too low (Iraq Body Count is now estimating 28,287 to 31,891 killed) and emphasizing suicide attacks against civilians over occupation-led attacks that have grown with the increased air war and the use of carpet bombing, cluster bombs, and napalm against Iraqi civilians. Studies of Iraqi civilian casualties outside of Iraq Body Count have placed Iraqi casualties between 39,000 and 100,000.