IRAN, et. al. — For all their internal problems, Iraqis seem to feel, as well, largely friendless among their immediate neighbors. Seventy- one percent think neighboring Shiite Iran is actively engaged in encouraging sectarian violence in Iraq. Sixty-six percent suspect the same of Syria; 56 percent, of Saudi Arabia.
There are big doctrinal differences. Iraqi Sunnis (Arabs and Kurds alike) are more apt to suspect Iran, which is mainly Shiite. But Iraqi Shiites almost unanimously suspect the Sunni kingdom of Saudi Arabia of the same kind of activities. And Iraqi Kurds and Shiites alike, but fewer Sunni Arabs, think Syria is sowing violence.
It's a web of suspicion; what's notable, though, is that even among Shiites, nearly half suspect Iran of fomenting Iraq's current violence.
Another result indicates how Iraqis are feeling friendless more broadly; it asked whether these plus other countries — Russia, Turkey, the United States and the United Kingdom — are playing a positive, negative or neutral role in Iraq. No more than 20 percent see any of these seven countries as a positive force. Rated worst were the United States and the United Kingdom, seen by 77 percent and 75 percent, respectively, as playing a negative role in Iraq.