Poll: 4 in 5 Iraqis Say U.S. Military Causes More Violence Than It Stops

WASHINGTON — About six in 10 Iraqis say they approve of attacks on American-led forces, and slightly more than that want their government to ask American troops to leave within a year, a poll finds. The Iraqis also have negative views of Osama bin Laden, according to the early September poll of 1,150.

The poll, done for University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes, found:

• Almost four in five Iraqis say America's military force in Iraq provokes more violence than it prevents.

• About 61% approved of the attacks, up from 47% in January. A solid majority of Shiite and Sunni Arabs approved of the attacks, according to the poll. The increase came mostly among Shiite Iraqis.

• An overwhelmingly negative opinion of Qaeda chief Mr. bin Laden and more than half, 57%, disapproving of President Ahmadinejad of Iran.

• Three-fourths say they think America plans to keep military bases in Iraq permanently.

• A majority of Iraqis, 72%, say they think Iraq will be one state five years from now. Shiite Iraqis were most likely to feel that way, though a majority of Sunnis and Kurds also believed that would be the case.

The PIPA poll, which included an oversample of 150 Sunni Iraqis, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3%.

The State Department, meanwhile, has conducted its own poll, something it does periodically, a spokesman, Sean McCormack, said. The State Department poll found two-thirds of Iraqis in Baghdad favor an immediate withdrawal of American forces, according to the Washington Post. Mr. McCormack declined to discuss details of the department's poll. An Iraqi public opinion research firm with a proven record of conducting scientifically valid surveys conducted the department's poll, a press officer, Janelle Hironimus, said. Iraqi officials have said Iraq's security was improving and expanding throughout the country, and most American troops might be able to leave eventually.

Last week, President Talabani told the United Nations that coalition forces should stay in Iraq until Iraqi forces are "capable of putting an end to terrorism and maintaining stability and security."

Meanwhile, the new leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq purportedly said yesterday in an audio message posted online that more than 4,000 foreign militants have been killed in Iraq since the Americanled invasion in 2003 — the first apparent acknowledgment from the insurgents about their losses. The message also called for experts in the fields of "chemistry, physics, electronics, media, and all other sciences — especially nuclear scientists and explosives experts" to join the group's war against the West.

"We are in dire need of you," the man, who identified himself as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, said. He is also known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri. "The field of jihad can satisfy your scientific ambitions, and the large American bases are good places to test your unconventional weapons, whether biological or dirty, as they call them."

The audio message came on a day that saw the killings of at least 23 people and the discovery in the capital of 40 apparent victims of sectarian death squads.