Remind me what "good news" means again

ABC News has released a poll from Iraq that can only be encouraging to anyone whose last name is not Moore, Sheehan, or Murtha. (Oh, so that's what MSM means!)

An ABC News poll in Iraq, conducted with Time magazine and other media partners, includes some remarkable results: Despite the daily violence there, most living conditions are rated positively, seven in 10 Iraqis say their own lives are going well, and nearly two-thirds expect things to improve in the year ahead.

Surprisingly, given the insurgents' attacks on Iraqi civilians, 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.
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There are positive political signs as well. 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.

Interest in politics has soared.

Preference for a democratic political structure has advanced, to 57 percent of Iraqis, while support for an Islamic state has lost ground, to 14 percent (the rest, 26 percent, chiefly in Sunni Arab areas, favor a "single strong leader.")

By what definition are these not good signs? And yet, here is the headline for an AP story about the poll:

"Poll: Most Iraqis Oppose Troops' Presence"

Good grief. Leave it to the AP to find the dog poop in the silver lining.

Yes, there was this from the poll:

There's other evidence of the United States' increasing unpopularity: Two-thirds now oppose the presence of U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq, 14 points higher than in February 2004. Nearly six in 10 disapprove of how the United States has operated in Iraq since the war, and most of them disapprove strongly. And nearly half of Iraqis would like to see U.S. forces leave soon.

Is it surprising that Iraqis would like troops from another country to leave their country? Not at all. I think this question is an expression of the Iraqis' desire to see the US troops leave and a hope that life would get back to normal. As evidence, consider this from the poll:

Specifically, 26 percent of Iraqis say U.S. and other coalition forces should "leave now" and another 19 percent say they should go after the government chosen in this week's election takes office; that adds to 45 percent. Roughly the other half says coalition forces should remain until security is restored (31 percent), until Iraqi security forces can operate independently (16 percent), or longer (5 percent).

At least half of Iraqis realize that they need the US for now, and acknowledge that. Would 7 in 10 Iraqis say their lives are going well if it wasn't true? Would 6 in 10 say local security was good if it wasn't true?

The Iraqis just want the violence to end. The presence of US troops is a reminder that the murderers and terrorists still set off their bombs in public markets. By saying they want the US to leave, they're really saying they want the violence to end, because the US can leave when the violence ends.

There was also this surprising news out of Iraq this weekend:

Sunni nationalist insurgents in Anbar province Dec. 11 are reportedly urging Sunni voters to participate in the Dec. 15 elections to create a nationalist government in Iraq. Former Baathist and rocket specialist Ali Mahmoud said al Qaeda would have to answer to the Sunni nationalist insurgents if they tried to stage attacks against voters. An insurgent leader by the name of Abu Abdullah labeled al Qaeda chief in Iraq Abu Musab al-Zarqawi "an American, Israeli and Iranian agent who is trying to keep our country unstable so that the Sunnis will keep facing occupation."

Is it possible to underestimate the importance of the Sunnis wanting to participate in the political process?

Could any fiction writer have come up with the crazy situation of an insurgent leader calling Zarqawi an American agent?!? Isn't this exactly the sort of thing we've been hoping for, seeing the Sunnis telling Al Qaeda to go get stuffed?

Obviously, the Sunnis are looking out for their own self-interest. They don't want to participate in the elections purely out of some allegiance to a noble ideal of democracy, and a generous desire to help the Kurds and Shiites. They want to make sure they have a say. But, isn't that the very key to peace in Iraq? The Iraqis, especially the Sunnis, realizing that the way to a better future is not through bombs and murder, but through politics and compromise?

Friends and neighbors, this is good news. Early voting has already started. And none of this would have been possible without the US military doing a job on the ground that history will long remember.

Why would anyone try to spin this as bad news? Did I pass through the Looking Glass when I wasn't paying attention?