Did anyone else catch the disturbing little side note on NPR’s Talk of the Nation (10 sept) in which a series of ABC polls, with a cumulative n of 4400, got 47% Shi’ites and 37% Sunnis across Iraq? Gary Langer observed, with admirable sangfroid, that the much-spouted 65% Shi’ite/20% Sunni proportion came from an “unsourced claim in the CIA world factbook.”

I don’t know why you’re trying to hijack this thread and make it about Israel-Palestine. But anyway, your out-of-context quote is slanderous because it makes it sound like I was making some universal claim about all Palestinians. Rather, I was pointing to the well-documented fact that many Palestinian parents encourage their children to become “martyrs.” Some are quoted in the article I linked to in the other thread. You can choose to ignore this reality, just as you want to ignore the BBC’s poll, but don’t blame me for the facts.

“Q22 Overall, do you think the presence of US forces in Iraq is making security in our country better, worse, or having no effect on the security situation?
Worse: All 72% Sunni arab 95% Shia arab 73%”

Another Stalinist statistic. Ignore ignore ignore. You never saw this statistic. What, what statistic?

Palestinian parents who encourage their children to throw stones at Israeli troops and become “martyrs.”

My concern, or lack of concern, for the Iraqi people is hardly relevant. The credibility of the poll depends on the pollsters and their sponsors (the BBC, ABC, etc.), not on me.

I’ll ignore your slanderous claim about Palestinian parents: anyone who wants to read what I wrote is welcome to.

It’s easy to square it.

They want THEIR security to improve and recognize that if the coalition troops leave sectarian violence may increase.

But they don’t give a flying fig about the security of the occupiers who caused the problem in the first place.

It’s similar to how some US conservatives view the Constitution. Necessary to protect their rights, but unwelcome nevertheless, and so subject to frequent attack.

Odd that Petraus is claiming all that success among the Sunni in Anbar, yet the vast majority of them want us out right effing now because they think his surge has made it worse.

Perhaps some enterprising Senator or Representative will mention the incongruity.

Q22 Overall, do you think the presence of US forces in Iraq is making security in our country better, worse, or having no effect on the security situation?
Worse: All 72% Sunni arab 95% Shia arab 73%

Yeah, I agree, it is weird (pdf).

Also, in Q22, obviously you don’t get get “All 72%” from 95% and 73%; why didn’t they add the third column? What’s the percentage of respondents in each column?

How this squares with a majority finding attacks on US forces to be acceptable, I don’t know.