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Troops To Bush - Get Us Out Of Here!

Posted: 03-07-2006 03:16 AM
by mudwoman
Well, now we have it.

If you're one of those people with a yellow "Support the Troops" magnet on your car, you might consider doing what 72 percent of those troops in Iraq want, which is to go home.

You might not know it if you get your news from TV or your local paper--or even if you read the New York Times but skip the opinion page--but Zogby International, a leading polling organization, just did a major poll of 944 American soldiers and marines in Iraq and found that nearly three quarters of them thought the US should exit Iraq within a year. More than half thought the US should leave within six months, and 29 percent said the US should leave "immediately." (That's what the Commander in Chief and the vice president, both of whom avoided having to fight in Vietnam, like to call "cutting and running.")

The Zogby poll results should be big news, but it didn't make most of the mainstream papers or the major TV news programs.

A spokesperson at Zogby said, philosophically, "This is the kind of story that has a long shelf life. These are not the kinds of opinions that shift up and down rapidly; they are strongly held opinions being expressed by the troops who were interviewed. We find that these kinds of polls don't get covered as news in themselves in today's media. They tend to get picked up and used to illuminate other stories, over time."

The spokesperson, Communications Director Fritz Wenzel, said that the 48 hours following Zogby's release of the new poll, with its startling results, were "the busiest days I've had in this job," with over 50 reporters contacting him for interviews. Oddly though, this busiest day of calling didn't produce much in the way of stories.

A likely explanation for this seeming paradox is that reporters clearly recognized the news value of a poll finding that the vast majority of American forces in Iraq believe that the war is a fiasco and that it's time to get the hell out, but senior management wouldn't let them go with the story. That's why the poll results, instead of being reported as the breaking news that they are, will end up being tucked discretely into broader pieces, as the Washington Post did, putting the information midway through an article on President Bush's falling approval rating (now at 34%). That's why the New York Times ignored the story in its news pages, and let it be covered in an op-ed column by Nicholas Kristof.

The poll, conducted between mid-January and mid-February, asked the troops other questions besides just the one about staying and fighting on or going home.

Among the other startling things Zogby discovered:

* While the administration keeps going on about "foreign fighters" being the problem in Iraq, only 26% of the troops questioned thought eliminating foreign fighters would weaken the insurgency.

* The strongest opposition to "staying the course" in Iraq came from reserve and National Guard troops, but even among active-duty Marines, the most gung-ho of troops in Iraq, 58% favored a pull-out within a year. Nearly half of reserve and guard troops favored an immediate pull-out.

* While the president talks about starting to reduce the number of US troops in Iraq, currently at a peak of 136,000 (a political imperative with congressional elections coming up this November), a majority of troops in the country say it would take a doubling of troops and a stepped up bombing campaign to control the Iraqi insurgency.

* A clear majority of the troops oppose torture and aggressive interrogation techniques and four out of five polled oppose the use of such banned weapons as napalm and phosphorus bombs, such as US forces employed in the assault on Fallujah in November 2004.

* This kind of information, which runs counter to the prevailing wisdom about attitudes of soldiers in the field, should be big news based upon the standard "man-bites-dog" theory of what constitutes news, but so far, the major media are for the most part ducking it, treating it as a "dog-bites-man" non-story.

A good illustration of how this kind of journalistic cowardice undermines effective political discourse in America is provided by the continuing ignorance about the causes of the war. Even in America itself, a large percentage of people still believe, against all the evidence, that invading Iraq made sense because Saddam Hussein was behind the 9-11 attacks. He was not, as even the president has been grudgingly forced to admit. Yet the media have done such a bad job of making this clear that Zogby reports 85 percent of troops in Iraq still think they're fighting "to retaliate for Saddam's role in the 9-11 attacks."

The clearest message of the Zogby poll is that those who want to "support the troops" now know what the troops themselves want, and what they want is "OUT!"

Those Americans who want to do something significant to support the troops beyond just displaying a meaningless yellow ribbon might start by calling their local media outlets and asking why there hasn't been a story about the latest Zogby poll.

That could be followed up by a few calls to local Congressional delegations, calling attention to the poll, and demanding an end to the war, in the interest of supporting our troops.

http://rense.com/general69/out.htm

Posted: 03-07-2006 05:09 AM
by Alien_UK
I don’t blame them the situation in Iraq is out of control and a civil war is in its early days. The troops where never sent to cope with this job. I say get them out of there and home to there loved ones now.

Posted: 03-07-2006 11:53 AM
by Cherry Kelly
Which soldiers were asked - ones in and around Baghdad? What about ones out in the other towns - cities - ??

Lets see poll ZERO, point zero zero 7 % (one presumes around hot bed areas of the war) -- get answers you expect.

NOW I am for getting our soldiers home as soon as reasonably possible to do so.

SO what would happen if we pull all our soldiers out of baghdad - just camped them elsewhere - think all the street car bombings would stop? Would the insurgeants stop causing problems? Would the non Iraqis leave?

Might be a worthwhile experiment. Get our soldiers out of Baghdad and see what happens. IF all calms down - then bring those troops home. hmm its an idea.

Posted: 03-07-2006 02:33 PM
by Alien_UK
SO what would happen if we pull all our soldiers out of baghdad - just camped them elsewhere - think all the street car bombings would stop? Would the insurgeants stop causing problems? Would the non Iraqis leave?
What have and can they do to stop the bombing? Inshort nothing.

The plain fact is that Iraq is no better off today as when Saddam was in power. We are torturing Iraqis just like Saddam did. We are killing as many Iraqis as Saddam did. They still don’t have a government and the Iraqis in charge are still torturing their own people just like Saddam did. But we did rip off billions of Iraqi dollars in oil money just like Saddam did. So tell me I’m thick what is the point of us being there at all?

Today's NEW YORK TIMES Editorial

Posted: 04-02-2006 01:52 PM
by joequinn
Here's the opening paragraph...

"Iraq is becoming a country that America should be ashamed to support, let alone occupy. The nation as a whole is sliding closer to open civil war. In its capital, thugs kidnap and torture innocent civilians with impunity, then murder them for their religious beliefs. The rights of women are evaporating. The head of the government is the ally of a radical anti-American cleric who leads a powerful private militia that is behind much of the sectarian terror."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/02/opini ... nd&emc=rss

The end is pretty near now, huh? It must be when Amerikan planes perform non-stop saturation bombing runs like it's December 1972 and when Halliburton-trained Black-n-Tans clones are terrorizing the entire country.... <SIGH>

Re: Today's NEW YORK TIMES Editorial

Posted: 04-02-2006 02:27 PM
by mudwoman
joequinn wrote: Here's the opening paragraph...

"Iraq is becoming a country that America should be ashamed to support, let alone occupy. The nation as a whole is sliding closer to open civil war. In its capital, thugs kidnap and torture innocent civilians with impunity, then murder them for their religious beliefs. The rights of women are evaporating. The head of the government is the ally of a radical anti-American cleric who leads a powerful private militia that is behind much of the sectarian terror."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/02/opini ... nd&emc=rss

The end is pretty near now, huh? It must be when Amerikan planes perform non-stop saturation bombing runs like it's December 1972 and when Halliburton-trained Black-n-Tans clones are terrorizing the entire country.... <SIGH>
I powerful piece. Thanks, Joe. One of the few things I disagree with, is that I think the BushCo plan all along was to Balkanize Iraq. Divide and control.

L
S

Posted: 04-02-2006 05:27 PM
by joequinn
I agree with you, Mudwoman. Unfortunately, while they had the power to divide, they overestimated their power to control, and now the situation is turning on them fatally...

Posted: 04-02-2006 05:38 PM
by mudwoman
joequinn wrote: I agree with you, Mudwoman. Unfortunately, while they had the power to divide, they overestimated their power to control, and now the situation is turning on them fatally...
Yes, one of those little lessons we learn as children. It is far easier (and even fun), to break things, than to fix them. Of course I could be underestimating these NeoCon creeps. They are probably even more evil, and twisted than we know. Their desire for WWIII (or IV) may trump their greed and blood lust. So, who knows where this insane ride will take us? :( :eek: :confused: