The Hindu : `Oil was the reason for the war'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, May 02, 2003

Opinion

Opinion - News Analysis

`Oil was the reason for the war'

What do the people of Iraq believe are the motives behind America's invasion of their country. Was it to liberate the people of Iraq from a dictator or was it because the Americans want control of Iraq's oil?

NDTV's unique Iraq opinion poll has direct answers to these and other questions. NDTV's team of six asked 1,000 people in 25 localities in Baghdad on April 22 and 23. The survey is the first opinion poll of the Iraqi people for 25 years and cuts across the biased opinions and reporting emanating from embedded journalists in the post-war scene.

While the Americans may claim that they invaded Iraq to liberate the people, as far as the Iraqis are concerned very few believe this American spin to the war. According to the NDTV poll, more than 2 out of 3 Iraqis, 67 per cent, believe that the real reason behind America's war is to gain control of Iraq's oil fields. Only 23 per cent of the people of Iraq believe that America wanted to help liberate the country. Once again the Muslims are much more suspicious of the Americans than the Christians in Iraq (the poll sample had 12 per cent Christians): 69 per cent Muslims thinks the war was all about oil while 56 per cent of Christians suspect the Americans' motives. This widespread suspicion of America's motives is perhaps a reason why 52 per cent of Iraqis (in an earlier response to the NDTV poll) want Americans to leave Iraq now.

With the series of post-war television images of U.S. troops roughing up Iraqi looters and other Iraqi people in the street, the NDTV survey asked the people of Baghdad whether the U.S. troops were treating the people on the street harshly or were the troops behaving well with the people of Iraq.

The answers indicate that some of the television images are non-typical and perhaps an exaggeration of the way U.S. troops are interacting with the Iraqi people. A clear majority of the Iraqis, 53 per cent, said that they felt the American troops were behaving well with the people on the streets. Only 24 per cent believe that the Americans are treating people harshly. And the women of Iraq felt this even more strongly. Fifty five per cent of Iraqi women in the sample compared with 52 per cent of men in the sample felt that U.S. troops were behaving well.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Opinion

Stories in this Section

The passage of the Finance Bill 2003

Lawless lathi

Affirmative action — II

The Uphaar case

India's opportunity in Iraq

Why Modi drew a blank

`Oil was the reason for the war'

Lethal injection better

Change curriculum