Posted on 02/28/2006 1:37:46 PM PST by HitmanLV
I'm surprised that the number isn't higher. OIF and OEF have been going on longer than WWII, and this may just be the warm up.
As far as Iraq goes, I've spent a summer or two there, and wouldn't lose any sleep about not going back. The military has done a magnificent job smashing the insurgents, but pretty much all of our other efforts were ineffective and poorly thought out. At this point, we (the military) are buying time for them (the contractors, diplomats, and Iraqis) to get their act together with our own asses, and it's getting old. We've dumped enough money into that joint to pave the roads with gold bricks, and we still can't even keep the lights on. (Not that I'm bitter, or anything)
Anyway, if the guys over there are frustrated, it's because they understand that no matter how well they do their job, ultimately, winning in Iraq isn't about how many muj you take out. Iraq can still have a good future, but we need to rethink how we can help it get there. We can sustain what we're doing indefinitely, but Iraqi society can't.
(On the plus side, our military had advanced by leaps and bounds over the last few years, and learned a lot. Woe to any other nation that crosses swords with us, and don't believe for a minute that the Army is broken. People are frustrated, but that's a far cry from being beaten.)
Yeah and the sky is orange, can anybody say another bogus poll.
90% of the troops don't blame Iraqis for insurgent attacks, huh? That alone tells you that this is worthless.
Zogby is under contract with George Soros to produce phony polls on-demand. Its all for his fantasy political pin-up girl for 2008, Miss Hillary.
Is there any poll that Freedom accepts as legitimate (I mean one that doesn't show Dubya at a rockin' 43 approval rate)!
Is there any poll that you will question(especially MSM media polls), if not would you like to buy a bridge to Brooklyn, you certainly fit the marketing profile of such a buyer.
I'm sure if you did a poll in 1943, 72% would say they'd like World War II to end in 1943.
I have consistently said on FR that any one poll can't be relied upon.
Looking across several polls, look for a pattern and the truth.
The CBS poll showing Dubya at an approval rate of 34 can't be relied upon. the Rasmussen poll showing dubya at a cheerful 43 approval rating cant be relied upon either.
Look at several polls and you can see that Dubya is most likey hovering at an approval rating of 40.
I was trying for a minimalist answer -- but I oversimplified.
For large populations, the sample size required for a given margin of error and confidence level doesn't change. I.e. -- if everything else is the same, the sample for a population of 350,000 would be the same as for a population of 350,000,000.
However, there is an adjustment for smaller populations -- and you originally asked about the 138,000 troops in Iraq. If 944 was the sample for the U.S. (assuming a simple random sample -- no stratification, or weightings) -- then you would need about 937 troops in your sample. Pretty much the same sample size, for practical purposes.
No doubt about that...but I think the context of how Zogby asked that specific question is the indicator of where it was going.
WWII troops would have responded out in 1943 if we win. Whereas Zogby is trying to give the perception that troops want out no matter what, which is bogus.
What next, polling the marching orders?
I'm expecting Zogby to strap on a suicide belt any day now.
For a while, he was one of the most admired pollsters in the country. But first he started shilling for the Democrats, and after 9/11 he started shilling for the Muslims.
Now he's about as reliable as Baghdad Bob.
In Vietnam we had won the war, but the politicians were trying to win the 'hearts and minds' which is a slow process.
Remember, it took a long time to establish the forerunner of this country. The only difference, it was done with local citizenry driving it forward. It was tenuous at first.
Anyway, don't lose heart. When all the cowardly politicians and gutless anti-war types pulled us from Vietnam, an unnessary firestorm was unleashed that caused a lot of death, pestulence, famine, war and so on.
Here's the reality. We're going to be in Iraq at least as long as we were in Germany or Japan. We'll keep their government afloat until it is self sustaining, and then we'll keep on the long, slow path to moderization. That's the reality, and no amount of VBIEDs is going to change it. The only question is how many people have to die before we get there.
On that note, we bungled the affair badly. In 2003 we were viewed as invincible, and had we acted quickly and decisively enough, we could have installed a government and a ready made constitution, and let them take off the training wheels later. We also should have crushed the insurgency when it started, rather than hiding from it and hoping that it would go away or could be negotiated with. And above all else, we should have worked to fix the quality of life issues that the Iraqis with 10x the speed and effort.
But, in the end, the insurgents have got nothing that can stop us, and they're becoming less and less able to hide from their new government. They are fanatics, and will do what fanatics do, to the bitter end. It's just a shame it had to take so long.
Le Moyne College/Zogby Poll
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