By Andrew L. Jaffee

Yesterday, the web was abuzz with some good news from Iraq: A poll released by Opinion Research Business (ORB) via the Times Online showed that a majority of Iraqis were optimistic about the future, believed life is better, and were asking, “what civil war?” A related story from the Times reported, “violence slashed as troop surge hits Baghdad.” ORB surveyed “5,019 Iraqis over the age of 18,” was conducted by “400 interviewers who fanned out across Iraq,” and was significant in that the “survey is a rare snapshot of Iraqi opinion because of the difficulty of working in the country.” What I find striking is that the BBC released news of another poll which purportedly showed “Pessimism ‘growing among Iraqis,’” and the Beeb didn’t even mention the ORB poll. A search of the BBC website for variations on the keywords “ORB poll iraq” returns “There are no results.”

Why would the BBC ignore the ORB poll? Hmmm… If you want more bad news perspectives on Iraq, please read the Beeb’s alternate poll report. What I find notable when comparing the ORB poll and the BBC/ABC News/ARD German TV/USA Today poll is this common theme:

But despite their differences, 58% overall said they wanted Iraq to remain a unified country. Almost all said they did not want Iraqi to be broken up along sectarian lines.