US troop increase fruitless: Iraqis

Overwhelming numbers of Iraqis say the US troop build-up has worsened security and the prospects for economic and political progress in their country, according to a poll released yesterday that provides a strikingly bleak appraisal of the war.

Forty-seven percent want American forces and their coalition allies to leave the country immediately, the survey showed, 12 percent more than said so in a March poll as the troop increase was beginning. And 57 percent - including nearly all Sunnis and half of Shi'ites - said they consider attacks on coalition forces acceptable, a slight increase over the past half year.

The poll, conducted by ABC News, Britain's BBC, and Japan's public broadcaster NHK, was released at the start of a critical week in the fight by Democrats trying to force US President George W. Bush to begin a withdrawal.