23 Die In Iraq Violence

"Mansoor Moaddel reveals in the Daily Star the results of his opinion polling in Iraq last year. A sociologist at Eastern Michigan University who has been working with the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research, Moaddel is highly qualified to do scientific polling.

Some of the findings he reports:

To the question, "Is Iraq better off without Saddam Hussein?" the 'yes' answers broke down this way:

Sunnis: only 23 percent said "yes."
Shiites: 87 percent said "yes."
Kurds: 95 percent said "yes."

On the question of whether a university education is more important for boys than for girls:

Sunnis: 44 percent disagreed, favoring equality for girls.
Shiites: 50 percent disagreed, favoring equality for girls.
Kurds: 78 percent disagreed, insisting the girls be educated equally.

In other words, the Sunni Arabs in Iraq are nearly twice as patriarchal in their attitudes as Kurds.

The third question is the most important: "Is life in Iraq unpredictable and dangerous?"

Sunnis: 77 percent said "yes."
Shiites: 41 percent said "yes."
Kurds: 17 percent said "yes."

Moaddel argues that when people feel that their lives are not in their control, they are more likely to mount violent political campaigns in response:"
Juan Cole