But the positive figures initially reported in the press and touted by officials in the Bush administration as a success for the U.S.-led coalition in developing a society belies the devastating negative ratings that every institution affiliated with the Americans receives from its constituents.

The polling -- done by ABC News, the BBC and two other international news networks -- consulted more than 2,500 Iraqis over the course of a three-week period in February and found that 70 percent of Iraqis said that their lives were good and 54.6 percent said they were better off with the removal of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party regime.

This would be welcome news for the Americans -- except that it only reflects that most Iraqis hated Saddam, news that will come as little surprise to anyone who has visited Iraqi or seen any media in the last 12 months. So they feel better with his removal. Added to this is a new sense of hope and influx of cash for some as Iraqis have taken advantage of the lack of tariffs and the end of the previous regime's restrictive policies to purchase DVD players, satellite television and new automobiles.

In this sense many in Baghdad and Iraq would agree that their lives have improved.

But what of the argument that Iraqis wanted the United States and its coalition of the willing to invade and occupy Iraq to get rid of Saddam's evil henchmen? How about the jubilant crowds of Iraqis welcoming the U.S. forces as liberators as famously promised by Vice President Dick Cheney just prior to the war's start last year?

Forty-nine percent say that the United States was right to invade. About half of Iraq thinks it was a good idea, with 41 percent considering it an unnecessary humiliation of Iraq to achieve Saddam's departure. Which means that a significant number of people who think their lives have improved and consider life to be going well under the coalition actually still don't support the invasion.

This might seem impossible -- for someone to think their life has improved while opposing the very action that put the improvement into place -- but it's been said that definition of an intelligent person is someone that can hold two opposing thoughts in the their mind at the same time. Even with a year of freedom and exposure to American greatness, many Iraqis are still capable of hating Saddam and not be particularly happy to see him driven from power by a bunch of foreigners.

But only 15 percent said that the Americans should leave immediately.

And that's the good news for the Coalition Provisional Authority, which has the task of setting up a credible administration in Iraq. The bad news is that it's the second-most hated institution in Iraq behind the coalition military forces.

After working feverishly to help plant the seeds of democracy and restore essential services, the CPA received a vote of "high confidence" from only 8 percent of Iraq's population. Thirty-five percent of the population says it has absolutely no confidence in the CPA. The coalition forces -- after providing security and stability to the Iraqis for a full year, not to mention having actually supplied the liberation themselves -- also received an 8 percent margin of support, with a whopping "no confidence" vote of 45 percent. Almost the same number of Iraqis who still support the American invasion, when asked how much confidence they have in the coalition forces voted "none."

The 25 Iraqis from every major ethnic and religious group who sit on the U.S.-appointed Governing Council fare almost as poorly.

Twelve percent of Iraqis have a lot confidence in them to develop a democratic Iraq, while more than 25 percent say they have no confidence in the interim leaders of the country. In a rich bit of irony, Saddam Hussein, world-class tyrant, actually polls in the top six politicians in Iraq. Compare that to a man many in Washington had hoped would run the country, Ahmed Chalabi, who did not show at all on the list.

And although only 20 percent of Iraq wants an Islamic state, 42 percent of the population has a high degree of confidence in their religious leaders, by far the highest of any institution in Iraq.

The other poll numbers have far fewer surprises. Iraqis predictably remain anxious about security, which concerns 85 percent of the population (presumably the other 15 percent are responsible for the security problems themselves), and jobs, economics and elections remain the most important issues after security.

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