2005-10-24

I hate being right sometimes

Secret MoD poll: Iraqis support attacks on British troops

The survey was conducted by an Iraqi university research team that, for security reasons, was not told the data it compiled would be used by coalition forces. It reveals:

• 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.

The opinion poll, carried out in August, also debunks claims by both the US and British governments that the general well-being of the average Iraqi is improving in post-Saddam Iraq.

The findings differ markedly from a survey carried out by the BBC in March 2004 in which the overwhelming consensus among the 2,500 Iraqis questioned was that life was good. More of those questioned supported the war than opposed it.




8 comments:

Craig Schwarze said...

Hmmm...a secret poll, secretly conducted by the military, secretly leaked to the Telegraph?

I think I'll wait for stronger confirmation than the Telegraph's say-so...

Neil Cameron (One Salient Oversight) said...

Craig you're such a bitch!! ;)

The poll was "secret" to the pollsters and to the people being polled. Once the data had been worked out, the MoD made the findings available to the media.

I see nothing about the poll being "leaked" to the Telegraph. The article itself does not lend itself to be scooping some unheard of fact.

Theteak said...

Neil, 89% of all statistics are totally wrong 78% of the time - 67% of the population can confirm this 58% of the time. BTW I was going to click on your 'support the troops' type ads (irony anyone?). But I already do. Don't get mad with me, I still consider you a treasured friend and brother in Christ - even though it's been about 12 years since we've seen each other. I just think you're kinda wrong about alot of this stuff. Your blog screams out: I hate America! Who do you nominate as the alternate single superpower in the world instead? North Korea? China? Iran? For goodness sake, look on the bright side. Iraq has been through alot. It takes time for a country to recover. I'm excited about one thing especially - when things get better. And yes they will, the gospel will be preached. That's why we pray for the good order of society isn't it? All this whinging about Iraq is a product of people forgetting that often history is just repeating itself. Except Bush is not Neville Chamberlain this time - he's Winston Churchill. 'Sure let them take over other countries' the Munich agreement - that was a fine moment in history. Perhaps you think a similar agreement should have been reached with Saddam in 1990? I'm sure by now he'd have convinced the world that invading Kuwait, raping, killing, looting etc., was an acceptable thing to do. Anyway, you are wrong. When you read stuff like this you should really check it out more, instead of leaping to the embarrassing post title of "I hate being right sometimes" on the basis of a very dubious survey.
BTW, how are you? It's been a while, I read your extended profile - did you know I was there when you preached in bare feet? One of my favourite moments during my years at St Pauls.

Neil Cameron (One Salient Oversight) said...

I think you're Matt Teakle - is that right.

I went to your blogsite. I see you're married. Who to?

What are you doing with life? Did you finish uni? Are you in ministry?

That sermon I preached in bare feet was the worst sermon I ever preached!

When I was at uni, I was very consciously anti-left. The leftists at uni were excruciatingly bad people. I've sort of become leftist over the years because I did my own study into economics and found that there are serious problems with a free market system. I'm not a radical leftist - I certainly don't think Communism is worth having - but I do think that leaving things for the marketplace to fix up is not the right way to go.

My time on MTS at St Pauls wasn't great. I'll tell you about it sometime. Send me an email so I can correspond in a more private vein.

BTW - how did you know about my blog?

Theteak said...

Yep, it's me. One of (many) things I always loved about you was how responded to criticism - very gracious indeed. My comment was pretty blunt. It would be great to catch up sometime, my brother in law lives in Newcastle...so next time we're up...
I finished uni several years ago, worked as a history teacher, then did MTS, worked in California, and tomorrow I start a new job with an Anglican church in Sydney. So, it's all good. I have two kids a wife all that. Pretty great actually. I heard you had a hard time on MTS, it made me sad. You're a great guy - very gifted. I really didn't think that sermon was so bad by the way. I remember a certain mother of a certain girlfriend of mine at the time was not impressed by the bare feet thing. Oh well. My wife worked at Matthias Media with Joy and Dave so we heard little snippets about you guys from time to time. Anyway, email me: canyagranfaddadodis@yahoo.com
I got to your blog through Phil Johnson's HOW ON EARTH DID YOU GET A LINK FROM PYROMANIAC???? WELL DONE.
That's blog gold baby...

Craig Schwarze said...

The article says "The poll, undertaken for the Ministry of Defence and seen by The Sunday Telegraph" The phrase "seen by" usually suggests a leaked document. Were it an official release, that usually would be mentioned in the article.

Neil Cameron (One Salient Oversight) said...

"My comment was pretty blunt."

Man - you should see it when Dave Lankshear and myself get into a barney. To some people I am gracious, but to others (esp. those who know me well) I can be blunt too!

I think I caught Phil Johnson's eye. I sent him an email that basically said "Hi, check out my blog, here's some articles that might interest you." And he did. One day I go to Pyromaniac and my blogsite is linked from his blogroll. He then posted some comments about what he liked about my site.

My big problem is that I am politically liberal when compared to the right-wing republican voting Christians of America, so I'm wondering when Phil will write some article about why he is taking me off his blogroll...

As you well know I can write some pretty fierce stuff from a lefty perspective. As a result I've been "Blogwhoring" articles around the American left-wing blogosphere (Eschaton, Americablog) and I get quite a few hits from these people. I'm sort of hoping that I'll get a name around the lefty blog world for being an intelligent lefty who still manages to call himself an Evangelical Christian. I'm not doing this for any real gospel reason - I do it because I reckon I'm a good writer who has something important to say. If these guys click on my sermons page and read some of my preaching, they'll certainly hear the gospel that way.

I'm also fairly up-to-date with US politics and the issues going around the US at the moment. In 2000 I studied American history at uni and I found America fascinating. I still do - but I still wouldn't want to live there!

You email address doesn't work - it got sent back. send it to me at one_salient_oversight (at) yahoo dot com. I can then send you my private email address

Theteak said...

Hey dude. That email should work with .au on the end