Be INFORMED

Thursday, December 20, 2007

The Iraqis View Of the British Occupation

  Here are a few polls from the BBC which, as we all know, say basically that the British and American occupation of Iraq has done no good for the Iraqi citizens.

This comes by way of Dailykos.

Iraqis want coalition forces to leave

by smintheus
Thu Dec 20, 2007 at 07:20:43 AM PST

Iraqi opinion polls don’t get much play in the US for the simple reason that Iraqis hold unflattering views about the way we’ve wrecked their country. The latest poll conducted by the BBC is no exception. On the eve of the British hand-over of control in Basra, it asked the residents of that province their opinion of what the occupation had achieved, whether security will now get better or worse, and what they’d like British troops to do.

As to the latter question, nearly two-thirds of Basrans want the Brits to withdraw not just from Iraq or from the region, but from the Middle East entirely. Of 922 Iraqis surveyed, only one person wanted the British to retain a presence in Basra.

Furthermore only 2% thought the British presence had had a positive impact on Basra, whereas 86% said it was negative. Only 3% said the British troops had reduced the level of militia violence, while 56% thought they had increased violence.

In perhaps the most stunning renunciation of the occupation, only 5% of Basrans think that security will get worse after the British hand-over. Around two-thirds believe that security will improve in both the short and long term. That may be overly optimistic, but in any case it demonstrates how thoroughly sick Iraqis are of the occupation of their country.   (  Continued )

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Wednesday, December 12, 2007

The Constitution, U.S. Government and Thomas Jefferson

"No free man shall ever be de-barred the use of arms.
The strongest reason for the people
to retain their right to keep and bear arms
is as a last resort to protect themselves
against tyranny in government."
-- Thomas Jefferson

...And what country can preserve
its liberties, if it's rulers are not warned from time
to time,that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? 
Let them take arms.The remedy is to set them right as to the 
facts, pardon and pacify them.What signify a few lives lost 
in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from 
time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
It is its natural manure."

-- Thomas Jefferson
(1743-1826), US Founding Father, drafted the Declaration of Independence, 3rd US President
Source: November 13, 1787, letter to William S. Smith, quoted in Padover's Jefferson On Democracy