Secret MoD Poll: Iraqis Support Attacks on British Troops

[gr8fuldaniel]

UK Telegraph Millions of Iraqis believe that suicide attacks against British troops are justified, a secret military poll commissioned by senior officers has revealed. The poll, undertaken for the Ministry of Defence and seen by The Sunday Telegraph, shows that up to 65 per cent of Iraqi citizens support attacks and fewer than one per cent think Allied military involvement is helping to improve security in their country. It demonstrates for the first time the true strength of anti-Western feeling in Iraq after more than two and a half years of bloody occupation. The nationwide survey also suggests that the coalition has lost the battle to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people, which Tony Blair and George W Bush believed was fundamental to creating a safe and secure country. <snip> • Forty-five per cent of Iraqis believe attacks against British and American troops are justified - rising to 65 per cent in the British-controlled Maysan province; • 82 per cent are "strongly opposed" to the presence of coalition troops; • less than one per cent of the population believes coalition forces are responsible for any improvement in security; • 67 per cent of Iraqis feel less secure because of the occupation; • 43 per cent of Iraqis believe conditions for peace and stability have worsened; • 72 per cent do not have confidence in the multi-national forces.

Didnt we already know this? I mean, if the people didnt approve of the insurgents, they would turn them in.
This makes it official.
Our occupation is not bringing peace to the region. The death toll drops dramatically the day we pull up stakes.

I also liked this quote from the article:

"I am not advocating a pull-out but if British soldiers are putting their lives on the line for a cause which is not supported by the Iraqi people then we have to ask the question, 'what are we doing there?' "

[Zealot]

Pat said we are supposed to provide a link here and no opinion?

Zealot....

[jose]

I´d say the Troops are in Iraq at the moment to save the face of blair and bush who would have answer many questions about the why and the lie of the illegal invasion of Iraq. oh and dont forget Afghanistan i wonder if they want us there either :)

[Zealot]

Quote by: jose I´d say the Troops are in Iraq at the moment to save the face of blair and bush who would have answer many questions about the why and the lie of the illegal invasion of Iraq. oh and dont forget Afghanistan i wonder if they want us there either :)

They are in Iraq to save people, remember the mass graves, the rape rooms and now the women can go to school and vote and serve in Gov. It is important to them, how about you? Of course the Taliban don't want us there!

Zealot

[RickSp]

82% of all Iraqis oppose the occupation troops, yet the War Party supporters still go on about "helping the Iraqis". So far we have helped perhaps a 100,000 civilians to their graves, so I can understand why the Iraqis don't want any more of our assistance.

Interesting that a significant majority of both the American and Iraqi peoples support a withdrawal of troops, yet the politicians lack the courage to oppose the Bush administration's madness.

[jose]

Quote by: Zealot They are in Iraq to save people, remember the mass graves, the rape rooms and now the women can go to school and vote and serve in Gov. It is important to them, how about you? Of course the Taliban don't want us there! Zealot

Historically, Iraqi women and girls have enjoyed relatively more rights than many of their counterparts in the Middle East. The Iraqi Provisional Constitution (drafted in 1970) formally guaranteed equal rights to women and other laws specifically ensured their right to vote, attend school, run for political office, and own property.
http://hrw.org/backgrounder/wrd/iraq-women.htm

[Trent]

The Iraqis don't want us there
We know we shouldn't be there
So why are we there?

Do the politicians work for us?
Or do we work for them?

Does a leader donate his life to his country
Or does his country donate their lives for him?

If we continue to traumatize youth around the world - what sort of world are we leaving for our children?

When will the lives of common folk (be they western or eastern) be seen to be as sacred and precious as the lives of our rulers?

These are questions I ask myself.

[gr8fuldaniel]

Quote by: Zealot Pat said we are supposed to provide a link here and no opinion?

You mean #2 and #4 in the guidelines?
You dont see the link at the top of the article, where it says UK Telegraph? It shows on my monitor thingy. Maybe you should change brands. As for the opinion part, that is about the story itself, it cant be from the OP-ED section of the paper (Or movie reviews). Adding your own opinion to the opening post in this (Latest News) section is optional. The rules are brief for this section (but, still kinda hard for a rebel like me to get used to structure, so dont feel bad )

Quote by: Zealot They are in Iraq to save people,

They are in Iraq to kill people

remember the mass graves, the rape rooms

The mass graves that we (but not me) supported and the rape rooms that are only under new management?

and now the women can go to school and vote and serve in Gov

You arent really aware of Islamic Theocracy, are you? Women are dehumanized. Besides, their election was just as crooked as ours are.

Quote by: Zealot It is important to them, how about you? Of course the Taliban don't want us there!

The Taliban doesnt care if we are in Iraq.

Quote by: jose I´d say the Troops are in Iraq at the moment to save the face of blair and bush

BINGO!!

[Sonart]

Quote by: gr8fuldaniel You dont see the link at the top of the article, where it says UK Telegraph?

Zealot seems not quite up to speed on a lot of the HTML stuff. He may be unaware that Red Text means a link.

.

[gr8fuldaniel]

Thanx Sonart, I didnt think of that.

[rmnunez]

The secrecy of the poll is going to be a problem, but the figures are interesting. I suppose it reflects the general views Telegraph readers would reasonably expect form people in such a situation.The poll was "commissioned" by the British military, or just by some "senior officers"? How "senior"? A rather risky endeavour to do such a thing. I don't suppose they used troops to do the polling. What was the demographic?

[Trotsky]

Perhaps he is colour-blind and cannot distinguish between the colours, don't pick on the man because he is disabled.....thats just wrong

[gr8fuldaniel]

The 2003 Palestine Hotel incident finally has consequences:

Spanish judge issues arrest warrants for 3 U.S. soldiers By Drew Brown, Knight Ridder Newspapers LINK Wed Oct 19, 5:52 PM ET WASHINGTON - A Spanish judge issued international arrest warrants Wednesday for three U.S. soldiers for an incident in which a U.S. tank fired on a Baghdad hotel during the 2003 invasion of Iraq and killed two journalists.

Rmnunez, all of your queries were answered by the article:

Quote by: rmnunez The secrecy of the poll is going to be a problem

If it werent secret, those polled would have lied to save their skins.

Quote by: rmnunez The poll was "commissioned" by the British military, or just by some "senior officers"? How "senior"?

Answer:

Quote by: Telegraph article The poll, undertaken for the Ministry of Defence

I assume MoD is equivalent of our Dept. of Defense (more accurately Dept. of Aggression), Headed by Sect'y of Defense.

Quote by: rmnunez I don't suppose they used troops to do the polling

No, they used:

The survey was conducted by an Iraqi university research team.....

[gr8fuldaniel]

Quote by: Trotsky Perhaps he is colour-blind and cannot distinguish between the colours, don't pick on the man because he is disabled.....thats just wrong

I wasnt trying to be mean. Sorry if it sounded that way.

[rmnunez]

gr8, note the text cited says a "secret military poll commissioned by senior officers..." and then that it was "undertaken for the Ministry of Defence". Had the poll been "commissioned" (ordered) by the MoD, wouldn't they say so? Could it have been undertaken on the initiaitive of these "senior officers"? If the MoD sought to gather some intelligence on local feelings in their area of deployment and sought some imput from senior officers on location, mightn't these undertake such a poll? How come its not possible the MoD would want the information, but maybe not a poll to substantiate it?

[RickSp]

Quote by: rmnunez gr8, note the text cited says a "secret military poll commissioned by senior officers..." and then that it was "undertaken for the Ministry of Defence". Had the poll been "commissioned" (ordered) by the MoD, wouldn't they say so? Could it have been undertaken on the initiaitive of these "senior officers"? If the MoD sought to gather some intelligence on local feelings in their area of deployment and sought some imput from senior officers on location, mightn't these undertake such a poll? How come its not possible the MoD would want the information, but maybe not a poll to substantiate it?

I suppose you will perpetually be in denial. If the results were more favorable I have no doubt that the MoD might publish it. Given how unfavorable things were, it doesn't seem at all unreasonable that the MoD might wish to bury the poll.

Your other objections are equally fatuous. When the Coalition Provisional Authority wanted information two years ago, it also published a poll, which it also kept private until leaked to the news. Nothing really has changed.

[gr8fuldaniel]

Maybe they will throw candy and flowers when the occupation ends?

Edit to add:
I wonder why the Iraqi people are opposed to the Reich Wing policy outlined by Ann Coulter:

"We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity."

[rmnunez]

A link to that last quote would be really gr8.

[RickSp]

Quotes from the The American Taliban

This Is War