Iraqi youth want U.S. troops to withdraw
By KATHERINE SHRADER
Associated Press Writer
10/22/06 "AP" -- -- WASHINGTON - Majorities of Iraqi youth in
Arab regions of the country believe security would improve and
violence decrease if the U.S.-led forces left immediately,
according to a State Department poll that provides a window into
the grim warnings provided to policymakers.
The survey — unclassified, but marked "For Official U.S.
Government Use Only" — also finds that Iraqi leaders may face
particular difficulty recruiting young Sunni Arabs to join the
stumbling security forces. Strong majorities of 15- to
29-year-olds in two Arab Sunni areas — Mosul and Tikrit-Baquba —
would oppose joining the Iraqi army or police.
The poll has its shortcomings; regional samples are small and
the results do not say how many people refused to respond to
questions. The private polling firm hired by the State
Department also was not able to interview residents of al-Anbar,
a Sunni-dominated province and an insurgent stronghold.
But the findings of the summer survey — circulated to
policymakers last month and obtained by The Associated Press
last week — nevertheless provide a solemn reminder of the
difficulty that the U.S.-backed Iraqi government faces as it
tries to add ethnic diversity to its security institutions.
Copyright © 2006 The Associated Press
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