United States of terrorism? One-Third of Iraqis Believe US Supports Daesh

Local Editor

The US has spent more than 13 years in Iraq under the guise of fighting terrorism. However, a recent survey shows that nearly one-third of Iraqis believe the US supports terrorism or Daesh [The Arabic acronym for the terrorist “ISIS” group].

The Office of Inspector General found that nearly “40 percent of Iraqis believe that the United States is working to destabilize Iraq and control its natural resources,” with 30 percent believing the US supports terrorism or Daesh.

This belief may partly be perpetuated by reports of videos purporting to show US forces delivering some form of support to Daesh militants.

In 2015, Iraq’s Parliamentary Commission on Security and Defense claimed to have revealed documents and photographs showing aircrafts belonging to the international coalition delivering weapons and supplies to Daesh, the Iraqi News reported.

“We have been receiving this information continuously from many sources, documented in photos and reports to prove that the planes did land at some airports in Mosul, Tal Afar, Al Kiara,” Committee Chairman MP Hakim Zamili said in a press conference.

The report also says that most Iraqis are “keenly aware of Daesh’s true nature” and “nearly all Iraqis have unfavorable views of it and oppose its goals and tactics, with no significant variation across religious sects and ethnic groups.”

The fact that a sizable percentage of Iraqis believe the US is helping the wildly unpopular Daesh could partially explain why the report also found that “the US image among Iraqis has fallen from 38 percent favorable in December 2014 to 18 percent in August 2015.”

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