Not surprisingly, in most Sunni regions there has little appetite for free U.S.-sponsored elections.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Even the majority of the Sunnis have grown tired of foreign terrorists operating in Iraq.
Last month, the Iraqi people went to the polls, voting in their first free election in more than 50 years.
Many Sunnis, who are still stuck in the Saddam era mindset and believe Iraq belongs to them, are trying to prevent a new country from developing at all.
I do not believe that the Sunni tribes have gone over to the Islamic State.
It is important that the Iraqi people have confidence in the election results and that the voting process, including the process for vote counting, is free and fair.
And we know there has been horrendous loss of life and suffering and we know that there is anger. Anyone who came anywhere near the general election in constituencies with a substantial Muslim population knows that.
Democracy in China is like Viagra; no such thing as free elections.
Iraq is part of a legitimate American effort not to have democracy everywhere but to have democracy somewhere.
Look, Congress has allocated more money to finance the upcoming Iraqi elections than it has for the American elections. There's something wrong with that.
While it's very hard to know exactly how to measure public opinion there, because there's no really good polling, the fact of the matter is that in all the polls I've seen the vast majority of the Iraqis prefer to be free and are pleased that the coalition freed them.