STANBUL – TDN with wire dispatches

A new poll in Iraq shows that Iraqis want the US to exit their country. Morevover, most Iraqis now approve of attacks on U.S. forces, even though 94% express disapproval of al-Qaeda, reports the American journal, 'Editor and Publisher'.

At one time, this was primarily a call by the Sunni minority, but now the Shiites have also come around to this view.

The survey by World Public Opinion (WPO), taken in September, found that 74% of Shiites and 91% of Sunnis in Iraq want us to leave within a year. The number of Shiites making this call in Baghdad is even higher (80%).

By a wide margin, both groups believe U.S. forces are provoking more violence than they're preventing, reports the journal.

According to the poll, support for attacks on U.S. forces now commands majority support among both Shiites and Sunnis. The report states: "Support for attacks on U.S.-led forces has grown to a majority position - now six in ten. Support appears to be related to widespread perception, held by all ethnic groups, that the U.S. would not withdraw its forces from Iraq even if the Iraqi government asked it to." Demand for a strong government:

The backing for attacks on US forces has jumped to 61% from 47% in January. Among Iraqis overall, 77% percent prefer that a strong government get rid of militias, including 100% of the Sunnis polled and 82% of Kurds.

But "the Shia population in Baghdad is more skeptical than elsewhere about the wisdom of disarming the militias," WPO states.

In Baghdad, Shias say they want militias to continue to protect their security (59%).

The national survey reached 1,150 Iraqis. It was conducted by the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of Maryland.Violence continues:

Meanwhile, violence in Iraq continues unabated. On Tuesday afternoon, a car bomb inside Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone attempted to kill Iraq's controversial speaker of parliament. The small bomb exploded at the back of an armored car in the motorcade of the Sunni speaker, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, as it was driving into a parking lot near the Green Zone's convention center, a parliamentary aide said.

Ammar Wajih, the chief spokesman for the Iraqi Islamic Party, the largest Sunni-Arab party in Iraq, told The Associated Press yesterdas, that the act was intended to hamper the political process. He said, "We strongly condemn this act."

In other attacks yesterday, at least 21 Iraqis were killed and six wounded, 7 of them members of an Iraqi specialized security force in Hilla.

One of the killed was a journalist working for the state-run al-Sabah newspaper in Baghdad. Journalis Raad Jaafar Hamadi was driving in the capital's western neighborhood of Washash when four unidentified traveling in a black BMW showered him with bullets, said police.

U.S. forces also said they detained 59 suspected insurgents during raids in Baghdad, Fallujah and south of the capital in the

Commentary: