But first the view from fuaux-reality land in Texas and throughout right-wing world

An overwhelming number of Iraqis say there is no justification for attacks on Iraqi civilians, Iraqi security forces or Iraqi public service infrastructure. A total of 94 percent of Iraqis say there is no excuse for attacks on Iraqi security forces, 97 percent say there is no justification for attacking civilians, and 97 percent are against attacks on infrastructure.

The percentages slip when it comes to disapproval of violence against Iraqis working with the coalition and attacks against coalition personnel. A total of 81 percent of those polled are against attacks against Iraqis working with the coalition, with 12 percent saying there is justification for the attacks and 7 percent with no opinion. Half of those polled said there was no excuse for attacks against coalition personnel, while 40 percent said there is a justification and 10 percent saying they don't know.

What this means, officials said, is that Iraqis see foreign troops - and there are 138,000 Americans in the country - as occupation forces, and that the coalition policy of training Iraqis to take the lead in the security arena is the right policy.

But then there is real reality. The truth is that these numbers were (no surprise here) 'fixed'.

Some of the polling data was released in an article written by Jim Garamone of the Armed Forces Press Service (the AFPS is a propaganda arm of the DoD, sending out news articles daily that carry only the administration’s point of view). Here’s what Garamone wrote of the polling data:

"The poll - done as part of the Tips Hotline number campaign - was conducted in Baghdad, Basrah, Salah Ad-Din, Najaf, Diyala and Irbil. More than 1,200 Iraqis answered the questions."

What is the "Tips Hotline number campaign?" The Tips campaign was originally established by U.S. forces in Baghdad to give ordinary Iraqis the opportunity to call in leads regarding suspected insurgent activity (see this article by the AFPS on the hotline). Pollsters were able to gain access to the database for this most recent poll. The problem with the poll should be clear at this point: Iraqis who were already predisposed against the insurgency are being asked about their feelings toward the insurgency, and the results are being used to portray the entirety of Iraqi opinion. It is not surprising to learn that 95+ percent of those surveyed said attacks are not justified — that is why they’re calling them in.

I called the Pentagon to ask them about this misleading survey.

A Pentagon official said he did not know of the methodology of the poll, but he suggested that the poll may simply be an effort to "measure the effectiveness of the tips campaign." If that’s true, the message isn’t getting across to others, who are using the figures not to demonstrate the effectiveness of the hotline, but instead to suggest they know the full range of Iraqi opinion. The American Forces Press Service touted the poll results as demonstrating that "Iraqis do not support terrorists." And General Myers said in the briefing, "I think the polling numbers are all very good with Iraqi citizens, they understand who the bad guys, who the good guys are I think in this case."

What is most disturbing about this biased poll is that even those Iraqis who are calling in insurgents are not unequivocally opposed to attacks on U.S. forces. Garamone writes:

"Half of those polled said there was no excuse for attacks against coalition personnel, while 40 percent said there is a justification and 10 percent saying they don’t know."

Only half of those Iraqis who are dead-set against the insurgency — to the point of reporting them to coalition authorities — think there is no excuse for attacking coalition personnel. Almost half think it is justified. The poll results hardly confirm that Rumsfeld and company understand this insurgency; in fact, it is a misleading effort which demonstrates the opposite.

Propaganda, pure and simple.

The truth is that this war is over, and the outcome is far worse than the neo-con dream of a few short years ago; and no constitution will prove that to the majority of Americans. Furthermore, someone(s) will pay a grave and serious price for our actions in Iraq. The problem is it won't be Bush or Rummy but more likely another large number of inocent people as a result of a terrorist attack. Which will be due to our foreign policy from years before, just like 11 September 2001 was.