Iraqis More Optimistic than Liberal Democrats

An ABC News poll has found that "seven in 10 Iraqis say their own lives are going well, and nearly two-thirds expect things to improve in the year ahead."

The poll further found that

more than six in 10 Iraqis feel very safe in their own neighborhoods, up sharply from just 40 percent in a poll in June 2004. And 61 percent say local security is good — up from 49 percent in the first ABC News poll in Iraq in February 2004.

On the economic front,

household incomes have soared by 60 percent in the last 20 months (to $263 a month), 70 percent of Iraqis rate their own economic situation positively, and consumer goods are sweeping the country. In early 2004, 6 percent of Iraqi households had cell phones; now it's 62 percent. Ownership of satellite dishes has nearly tripled, and many more families now own air conditioners (58 percent, up from 44 percent), cars, washing machines and kitchen appliances.

Politically,

three-quarters of Iraqis express confidence in the national elections being held this week, 70 percent approve of the new constitution, and 70 percent — including most people in Sunni and Shiite areas alike — want Iraq to remain a unified country.

Despite the fact that conservatives have long contended that positive news was plentiful in Iraq, ABC News must not have expected such positive poll results, calling the optimism "surprising."

However, I have to ask: Why is it surprising? If you recall, on November 29, Joe Lieberman wrote in the Wall Street Journal that

polls conducted by Iraqis for Iraqi universities show increasing optimism. Two-thirds say they are better off than they were under Saddam, and a resounding 82% are confident their lives in Iraq will be better a year from now than they are today.

Lieberman has been practically disowned by the Democratic Party for his comments; however, the results of this poll seem to support the truth of his comments.