US Military Finds All Iraqi Groups Blame U.S. Invasion for Violence

Every poll taken of Iraqis has said essentially the same thing.

What Iraqis Want

More Professor Smartass on Iraqi opinion

The news here is that these results come from focus groups conducted by the US military.

So if your righty friends disagree with this, you can tell them they are calling the troops liars.

The other significant thing is that the military has signed contracts with Gallup to do four polls a month. Both Republicans and most Democrats in Congress have either been silent about what the Iraqis think of our occupation or blatantly lied.

The related lie is that Iraq must be divided to restore peace and that Iraqis want that. Polls show most Iraqis want ONE country, and much of the sectarian violence is likely instigated by Saudi foreign fighters, since more come from Saudi than almost all other countries combined according to Israeli and Saudi studies.


Clearly, the Iraqis want us to leave, Americans overwhelmingly want us to leave, and the military is publicizing data that makes the case for pulling out.

Who exactly are we teaching democracy by staying?

KEY EXCERPTS:

washingtonpost.com
All Iraqi Groups Blame U.S. Invasion for Discord, Study Shows

By Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 19, 2007; A14


Iraqis of all sectarian and ethnic groups believe that the U.S. military invasion is the primary root of the violent differences among them, and see the departure of "occupying forces" as the key to national reconciliation, according to focus groups conducted for the U.S. military last month.

That is good news, according to a military analysis of the results. At the very least, analysts optimistically concluded, the findings indicate that Iraqis hold some "shared beliefs" that may eventually allow them to surmount the divisions that have led to a civil war.

***
Even though members of the military "understand the limitations" of polling data, Rapp said, "subjective measures" are an important part of the mix. In July, the military signed a contract with Gallup for four public opinion polls a month in Iraq: three nationwide and one in Baghdad. Lincoln Group, which has conducted surveys for the military since shortly after the invasion, received a year-long contract in January to conduct focus groups.

Outside of the military, some of the most widespread polling in Iraq has been done by D3 Systems, a Virginia-based company that maintains offices in each of Iraq's 18 provinces. Its most recent publicly released surveys, conducted in September for several news media organizations, showed the same widespread Iraqi belief voiced by the military's focus groups: that a U.S. departure will make things better. A State Department poll in September 2006 reported a similar finding.

Matthew Warshaw, a senior research manager at D3, said that despite security improvements, polling in Iraq remains difficult. "While violence has gone down, one of the ways it has been achieved is by effectively separating people. That means mobility is limited, with roadblocks by the U.S. and Iraqi military or local militias," Warshaw said in an interview.

FULL TEXT

Why does Washington want to partition Iraq against Iraqis will?

I'm deeply disappointed that my generally progressive senator, Barbara Boxer, is shilling for carving up Iraq, a neocon wet dream also advocated by corporate tool Joe Biden, despite polls consistently showing Iraqis oppose the idea (see below).






She doesn't bother to ask what Iraqis themselves actually want:

September 2007 poll:



BCC STORY ON SEPTEMBER POLL


March 2007 poll:



BBC STORY ON MARCH POLL

If Boxer, Biden, and flat-earther Brownback really want to stabilize Iraq, they might demand that Bush pressure Saudi to stop sending 45% of the foreign fighters into Iraq who likely are fomenting ethnic violence to make partition look attractive.

Early on when mosques were bombed, Sunni and Shia clerics got together to condemn the attacks. Despite several years of ethnic violence since Bush invaded most Iraqis (with the exception of the Kurds) want to remain one country.

How would we be teaching them democracy by dividing their country against their will?

POLL CHARTS: Iraqis don't want to give OIL WEALTH to Bush cronies

Not surprisingly, a recent poll of Iraqis commissioned by Oil Change and other groups found that they know their oil income could provide a decent living for their people.

Iraqis would also prefer that their national oil company develop their oil NOT transnational oil companies, which directly contradicts the intent of the Bush-backed Hydrocarbon Law which will give up to 80% of Iraq's oil income to companies like Chevron, Exxon, and Shell.

Iraqis also said they don't haven't heard enough about Bush's oil law to feel informed on it--sounds a lot like the Patriot Act and just about everything else the Bushies force on us with as little debate and scrutiny as they can get away with.

If we were even remotely interested in teaching the Iraqis democracy, Washington, DC would be talking about the results of this poll. But they don't because as Huffpost blogger Robert Naiman said:

If supporters of continuing the indefinite U.S. occupation of Iraq were forced to concede that Iraqis don't support what the U.S. is doing -- not to mention that nearly a million Iraqis have died -- the whole argument about "cut and run" would be exposed as a cruel farce. If one is engaged in an immoral enterprise, there's nothing brave about "staying the course."

FULL TEXT

Click any chart to see full-sized.

This is the crucial one:


Questions: Have you been kept in the dark and fed on bullshit?




More on this poll

OIL THEFT motive for IRAQ WAR resources

Iraqi parliament EXACTLY RIGHT to go on vacation

There seems to be a bipartisan bitching point about the Iraqi parliament going on a two month vacation, but the Iraqis are doing exactly the right thing.

Remember when the Texas legislature was doing that mid-census redistricting, and Democrats fled to deprive them of a quorum?

Iraqis may have figured out that is the best way to deprive Bush of the Hydrocarbon Law that will rob Iraq of its oil wealth.

If the Iraqis bring it to a vote now and defeat it, Bush will figure out some way to dissolve parliament and install a govenment that wil do his bidding. Maliki has already said if the Hydrocarbon Law doesn't pass, he will be out of job because Bush will withdraw his support. For Maliki and the parliament, it's not hard to imagine that displeasure coming in the form of a terrorist attack or a death squads making some midnight visits with a list of those who voted against the bill.

If the Iraqi parliament votes FOR the Hydrocarbon Law, that midnight visit will be from the insurgents.

So rather than make a decision that could cost them their lives either way, they go on vacation, and put it on the back burner.

And every day, Bush and his war get less popular here, and therefore Bush is less powerful. In two month, the polite suggestions for a withdrawal timetable in the Democratic bill could have solidified with public support into a mandatory timetable, and Congress may have gotten around to investigating the role of oil companies in lobbying for the overthrow of Saddam, and drafting the plan for privatizing everything in Iraq that probably constitutes a war crime under the Geneva and Hague Conventions.
http://professorsmartass.blogspot.com/search?q=geneva
(scroll down for relevant excerpts)

Maybe some Democrats besides Dennis Kucinich, Jim McDermott and a handful of others will decide to show us the courtesy of talking honestly on camera about the role big oil played in this war.

Like the memo Condi got telling her to cooperate with the energy task force in “the review of operational policies towards rogue states such as Iraq and actions regarding the capture of new and existing oil and gas fields.”
http://professorsmartass.blogspot.com/2007/03/juhasz-wh...

I think the Iraqi parliament has even passed a non-binding resolution of their own on the withdrawal of our troops, just like the slow boil tactic used by Democrats in Congress.
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/51624

Maybe Bush will end up keeping his promise about democratizin' Iraq--but he won't be happy if he does.

OIL motive for IRAQ WAR resources

iraq oil contracts oil concessions hydrocarbon law vacation iraq war privatization jim mcdermott oil psa production sharing agreement president george w bush oil companies shell bpExxonMobil ChevronTexaco ConocoPhillips republican antonia juhasz greg palast GOP dennis kucinich condi occupation colonialism hydrocarbon law withdrawal kucinich professor smartass iraq peak oil propaganda corporation democracy war on terror worst president ever failure war criminal smartass comments resistance censored news

POLL: Iraqis want US out of Iraq

I missed this PIPA poll when it came out in September 2006.

The results are pretty straight forward, and despite the foreign policy establishments talking point about civil war and an even greater bloodbath after the US pulls out, Shia and Sunni Iraqis seem to roughly agree on wanting the US out and agree that it will result in a more peaceful Iraq. They also agree that we won't leave even if asked to.

All charts from PIPA.








The numbers in this chart shows the difference between January and September 2006. Most troubling is that the Shia (the largest ethnic group in Iraq) went from a minority approving of attacks on US forces to a solid 62% majority.



Link to PIPA poll report

What Iraqis think of Bush's OIL THEFT law he is forcing on them

Earlier polls of Iraqis on the occupation

99% of Iraqis vs. "elected" liars

One percent of Iraqis say occupation is making them safer in a recent British intel commissioned poll. That's probably less than the margin of error.

Past polls have shown similar overwhelming opposition to the occupation:
http://professorsmartass.blogspot.com/2005/07/if-were-teaching-iraqis-democracy-what.html

There are two depressing implications to this story.

One is that the elected prime minister of Iraq begs us to stay in the same in article, leading me to wonder how legitimate their democracy is when their leader can ignore numbers like this.

Worse, is what it says about our democracy. I expect Republicans to support the war. That is what they are paid to do. But I do not expect Democrats to not only ignore the wishes of the American people about pulling out of Iraq, but also lie to us about the situation there as Sen. Carl Levin did yesterday in this LA Times story:

The Michigan senator, who is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee and a frequent visitor to Iraq, said that one of the few points on which the main Iraqi ethnic and sectarian political groups agree was that all want U.S. forces to remain in the country. The Bush administration should use that consensus to forge political compromise, Levin argued.

FULL TEXT OF LA TIMES ARTICLE

It is not enough to vote for Democrats and expect everything will be swell. While they will be better on civil rights and domestic policy, in foreign policy, the leaders of the party seem just as eager to use our tax dollars to steal and kill for corporate America, actions we do not profit from in any way.

KEY EXCERPTS:

Secret MoD poll: Iraqis support attacks on British troops
By Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent
(Filed: 23/10/2005)

Millions of Iraqis believe that suicide attacks against British troops are justified, a secret military poll commissioned by senior officers has revealed.

• 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;

That appears to have failed, with the poll showing that 71 per cent of people rarely get safe clean water, 47 per cent never have enough electricity, 70 per cent say their sewerage system rarely works and 40 per cent of southern Iraqis are unemployed.

But Iraq's President Jalal Talabani pleaded last night for British troops to stay. "There would be chaos and perhaps civil war," he said. "We are now fighting a world war launched by terrorists against civilisation, against democracy, against progress, against all the values of humanity.

"If British troops withdrew, the terrorists would say, 'Look, we have imposed our will on the most accomplished armed forces in the world and terror is the way to oblige the Europeans to surrender to us'."

FULL TEXT

iraq war wmd terrorism oil cindy sheehan president george w bush fascist real reasons telegraph dlc democratic leadership council republican GOPconservative corruption occupation halliburton colonialism white mans burden professor smartass iraq democrat lies peak oil propaganda corporation fascism democracy political opinion george w bush, war on terror, muslim, public opinion, opinion, public relations, foreign policy, al qaeda terrorist Secret MoD poll: Iraqis support attacks on British troops, worst president ever failure war criminal

Iraqi lawmakers demand US withdraw troops

Democracy Now is the best hour of news on the radio, hands down. These are their Iraq headlines yesterday. The most dramatic is the call by Iraqi lawmakers for the US to pull out our troops.

Polls of Iraqis, including one done by the Bush appointed Coalition Provisional Authority show that the overwhelming majority in Iraq view us as occupiers not liberators and want us to leave.

If we are trying to teach them democracy, we should respect their position.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/21/1335234

New Poll: Americans Against Iraq War

Meanwhile, the latest CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll shows that nearly six in 10 Americans oppose the war in Iraq and a growing number of them are dissatisfied with the war on terrorism. The poll was released yesterday and shows that support for the war has fallen significantly since March and is hovering at about 40 percent.


Hagel Blasts Bush on Iraq

Republican Senator Chuck Hagel has amplified his criticism of the Bush administration's policy in Iraq. In this week's U.S. News & World Report, the Nebraska Senator said "The reality is that we're losing in Iraq." Continuing, he said "Things aren't getting better; they're getting worse," adding: "The White House is completely disconnected from reality. It's like they're just making it up as they go along." Hagel has criticized the administraton's handling of the war before, but his talk of "losing in Iraq" represents his harshest assessment yet. His comments come after Vice President Dick Cheney declared that the world is seeing the "last throes" of the resistance in Iraq.


'Out of Iraq Caucus' Formed in Congress

Meanwhile, a group of 50 progressive Congressmembers has formed a new group called The Out of Iraq Congressional Caucus. They say its mission is to try to increase pressure on the Bush administration and Congress to end the Iraq conflict and bring US forces home.


82 Iraqi Lawmakers Call for US to Leave Iraq

This comes as eighty-two members of the Iraqi parliament have sent a letter to the speaker of the house demanding that the United States withdraw its troops from Iraq. Some of the leaders of this movement come from the United Iraqi Alliance, the coalition of religious Shiite parties that has a majority of the 275 seats.

parliament withdrawal iraq war democratization terrorism oil pull out president george w bush vote corruption occupation halliburton colonialism white mans burden professor smartass iraq war on terror muslim public opinion opinion worst president ever failure war criminal idiot retard smartass comments resistance censored news rebel