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Eigh ty percent of Iraqis mistrust the coalition authority and 82 percent disapprove of US and allied forces in their country, The Washington Post said Thursday quoting an poll conducted for the authority.

The results of the survey, which has not been publicly released, are disheartening for occupation and Washington officials because they seem to indicate that the US effort in Iraq is not winning over Iraqi public opinion, said the daily.

Even more troubling is the fact that the residents of Baghdad, Mosul, Basra, Nasiriyah, Karbala and Ramadi were polled in late March and early April, before the surge in anti-coalition violence and the prisoner abuse scandal, the daily said.

The poll results were provided to the Post by Donald Hamilton, a senior advisor to US overseer in Iraq Paul Bremer. Although he did not give the number of Iraqis consulted or other methodological details, he said the poll was generally reliable.

A large proportion of respondents in central and southern Iraq - 45% in Baghdad, 67% in Basra - said they backed radical Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada Sadr, who is leading a major uprising against coalition forces and whom the US wants to kill or capture.

The Iraqi police received a 79% positive rating, followed closely by the Iraqi army, with a 61% positive rating.

Sixty-three percent of all Iraqis said security was the "most urgent issue" facing Iraq - in Baghdad it was 70% who rated security their topmost concern, up from 50% in January, 60% in February and 65% in March.

Asked about the June 30 transfer of authority by coalition authorities, 27% said the Iraqi people should appoint the new leader, 23% said judges should, and only 0,1% said the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council should name the government. Nobody said the occupation authority should.

Eighty-three percent said only Iraqis should be involved in supervising the 2005 elections. - Sapa-AFP

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