...believe attacks on "Coalition forces"--i.e., US troops--are "acceptable." (Hat tip Andrew Bostom.)

But look on the "bright side": That figure is down 15 percent from six months ago. That is, I mean to say: That figure is down 15 percent from six months ago!!!!!!

Little wonder General Petraeus has sounded frustrated lately. 

Serving the glass-full interpretation, the survey also tells us 57 percent of Iraqis think such attacks are unacceptable--up 14 percent from six months ago. I mean: up 14 percent from six months ago!!!!!!

Not to be churlish but I find such Iraqi attitudes--after five years' worth of American blood and treasure--to be outrageous. (It's worth noting Iraqi attitudes on attacks on Iraqi government forces and so-called Awakening Councils: Only 4 percent and 5 percent of Iraqis find such attacks acceptable; and 95 percent and 94 percent find such attacks unacceptable.)

Imagine if such numbers came out of France after D-Day in 1944 (42 percent of French people believe attacks on Allied Forces are acceptable...).

Imagine if these numbers came out of South Korean after the Battle of Chosin Reservoir in 1950 (42 percent of South Koreans believe attacks on UN forces are acceptable...).

Imagine if they came out of, crikey, Grenada in 1983 (42 percent of Grenadians believe attacks on US forces are acceptable...).

Would we consider such peoples worth the ultimate sacrifice of our very best young people? And would we consider them likely linchpins of longterm US national security strategy? 

These are the questions that never seem to get asked, at least in part because these are the kind of poll numbers that never seem to get noticed. (Indeed, my friends at Power Line blogged this same survey mainly as evidence of improving Iraqi confidence without noting the dangerous   ingratitude of this large bloc of the Iraqi population.)