Most Iraqis Oppose U.S. Troop Presence but Admit Situation Improving

Interestingly, as security improves, so do people's economic situations. Fifty-seven percent of Iraqis now say their household finances are good, an increase from last year. Average earnings are up from $322 a month at the beginning of 2007 to $403 a month now. Not only are markets booming, but there is a lot of construction, evidence that people are investing their own money in the expectation that the security situation will continue to improve. At the main checkpoint leading into Fallujah they see an average of 160 trucks a day coming in with cement and blocks.

The biggest problem ABC News encountered across the country was the lack of central government help. Even as peoples' lives were improving at a local level, Baghdad was contributing very little to reconstruction. Universally, people complained about the lack of services — 62 percent said medical care was bad, 81 percent complained about a lack of fuel, and — worst of all — 88 percent said they were not getting enough electricity.

One engineer in Fallujah, standing underneath new electricity pylons, said "it is true they have put up wires and transformers — but what is the use? There is no power."

At a hospital in Nasariyah in the south, we came across Adnan Hamdan Ulaiwi, a 38-year-old soldier, who told us he had been waiting four days for an operation on his arm. Each time he turned up they told him the surgeon was too busy. "If you know someone influential they will take your papers and call your name — if you don't know anyone, you just have to wait."

Although the situation appears to be generally improving, there are some stark sectarian divides — while 62 percent of Shiites and 73 percent of Kurds say their lives are going well, that drops to just 33 percent of Sunnis, who believe the Shiite-led government actively discriminates against them. And the number of Iraqis who say they would like to emigrate is increasing — 36 percent now say they would like to leave if they could. In the Kurdish north we met a group of Christians who had fled the violence in Baghdad and Mosul, and had found shelter with a local priest in the town of Zakho. Several dozen of them were taking an English class. When asked how many people in the room wanted to go to another country, they all put up their hands, laughing loudly at my question.