There's been a lot of attention to that poll that showed that the great majority of Iraqis (70%) believe that the surge has failed and that security conditions have deteriorated. But there's a lot more in that poll that's worth looking at. (Click here for the full results.)

Matt Yglesias notes one key number. "Nearly 60%" of Iraqis see attacks on US troops as justified. As Matt notes, even a substantial minority who believe that would make a successful outcome very difficult, perhaps impossible.

Another number jumped out even more to me though. Over here in the US we all seem to have agreed that it's best that Iraq be reorganized as a decentralized state made up of three quasi-autonomous provinces -- Kurds, Sunnis and Shia. But the Iraqis themselves don't seem to agree. 62% believe Iraq should remain a centralized state with its capital in Baghdad.

So Iraqi nationalism is alive and well. They all agree. They just haven't decided who's going to dominate the centralized state -- Sunnis or Shia.

Indeed, this probably understates the problem since I suspect that the Kurds (many of whom don't really want to be part of Iraq at all) strongly favor the decentralized option.

In fairness that number was 79% in 2004. So it's come down substantially. But this is the sort of thing fuels civil wars for years. The Lebanese civil war was an example. Both sides keep fighting until they decide they can't ever really beat the other side. Then there's some kind of settlement. The Iraqis don't seem anywhere near there.