GALLUP IN BAGHDAD
If memory serves you read the preliminary reports here in September. However, the media have just gotten hold of the final - so here they are again.

Seventy-one percent of Baghdad residents believe U.S. troops should not leave within the next few months, according to the Gallup Poll released yesterday in Washington. Twenty-six percent feel the troops should leave that soon.

OK - this isn't the "90 - 95%" that most soldiers cite...but remember this is just Baghdad...part of the so-called Sunni Triangle.

Still I have to conclude that a 71% approval rating for our guys does not exactly a "quagmire" make.

The biggest surprise may have been public reaction to the questioners, who visited Iraqis in their homes. Richard Burkholder, director of international polling for Gallup, said the response rate was close to 97 percent, with some people following questioners around the streets begging for a chance to give their opinions.

Which is also striking...because one way that freedom is distinguished from tyranny is the right of the people to freedom of expression. Clearly there is a hunger for such freedom in Baghdad. A hunger that won't be soon extinguished I feel certain.