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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John Carragher who wrote (120720)	11/30/2003 1:04:51 PM
From: Bilow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Hi JC; Another BS link. Total fabrication. Re: "Well, finally we have some evidence as to where the truth may lie. Working with Zogby International survey researchers, The American Enterprise magazine, which I edit, has just conducted the first scientific poll of the Iraqi public." taemag.com Zogby himself has already published a denouncement of the incredible spin of his polls in favor of staying in Iraq. Here's the truth from Zogby himself: How the Poll Results on Iraq Were Manipulated James Zogby, Zogby.com, October 23, 2003 #reply-19428129 The situation in Iraq has become so desperate that the idiots who dragged us into this thing are continuing to spout BS that has already been rejected by the very sources. -- Carl

To: John Carragher who wrote (120720)	12/1/2003 9:05:34 AM
From: frankw1900	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

Hi John, Since AEI bought the Zogby poll they also bought the poll results which you can find here and interpret for yourself: taemag.com taemag.com Zinnmeister's latest article on Iraq polls -Nov 17/03- has interesting observations: There have actually now been four substantial polls in Iraq. Besides our own, there was one by Gallup in September, one for the London Spectator by the well-established British firm YouGOV and one by an Iraqi academic. Though these efforts varied widely in methodology and geographic coverage, their results are reassuringly congruent. In all of them, the Iraqi public turns out to be surprisingly optimistic, unambiguously glad to be free of Saddam, and quite willing to have U.S. troops stay in their country for a year or more to help them get launched on a new footing. For instance: Two-thirds of Iraqis say getting rid of Saddam has been worth any resultant hardships. Fully 61 percent have a favorable view of the Governing Council--and, by 50 percent to 14 percent, they say it is doing a better job than two months ago. An informal late-October New York Times street poll of residents of Baghdad [the least secure part of Iraq] "showed that about 85 percent felt that safety had increased in the last two months, and 60 percent felt that the Americans were doing a good job," according to the Times. What does this mean? It tells us we are doing much better at winning the hearts and minds of everyday Iraqis than many of us realize. The Iraqi public is not nearly so fanatical, seething or disgusted with the United States as local extremists would have us believe. In addition, the survey research we did at The American Enterprise suggests that none of the three major nightmare scenarios for Iraq are likely to come to pass: * First, there will be no Ba'athist revival. Our evidence shows Saddam and his cronies are enormously unpopular in the country. * Second, al Qaeda-style organizations are unlikely to proliferate in the new Iraq. We asked Iraqis what they think of Osama bin Laden, and 57 percent of those with an opinion view him unfavorably, with fully 41 percent of them saying their view is very unfavorable. As foreign jihadists murder increasing numbers of Iraqi civilians, Iraqi police and Iraqi popular figures, I expect resentment toward al Qaeda-style groups will grow wider. * Third, I believe the nightmare scenario can be dispatched of an Iranian-style theocracy in Iraq. Iraqis are quite secular--43 percent told us they had not attended Friday prayer even once within the previous month. And when we asked directly whether they would like to have an Islamic government, Iraqis told us "no" by 60 percent to 33 percent. Interestingly, on almost every question the Shi'ites--who comprise nearly two-thirds of all Iraqis, fall on the more moderate side of Iraqi opinion. They are, for example, much less likely than others to want a theocratic government, more favorable toward democracy, much more unfriendly to Osama bin Laden, and more likely to pick the U.S. as the best model for a new Iraqi state. And under any democratic regime these Shi'ites will be running Iraq. aei.org See for story about Gallup: quickstart.clari.net and: cpa-iraq.org cpa-iraq.org cpa-iraq.org cpa-iraq.org cpa-iraq.org cpa-iraq.org The Spectator poll was done in July and I'm not sure just well it was done. Here's their article: spectator.co.uk And a table spectator.co.uk And a criticism nationalreview.com