At 4:07 PM -0800 3/26/04, Devine, James wrote:
people do often reply to polls by saying what they feel they "ought to" say.
They often do even under "normal" circumstances in the United States
(e.g., Americans overstate their church attendance).
Doug and Joel ought to remember that Iraq is *under foreign military
occupation conducting counterinsurgency warfare* with censorship,
checkpoints, house raids, arbitrary arrest and detention, no due
process, etc. -- i.e. Iraqis do not have freedom of speech.
As Alex Gourevitch reminds the reader, "In June [2003], Bremer issued
a nine-point list of 'prohibited activity' that included incitement
to violence, support for the Baath Party, and publishing material
that is patently false and calculated to promote opposition to the
occupying authority" ("Exporting Censorship to Iraq," October 1,
2003, <http://www.prospect.org/print/V14/9/gourevitch-a.html>). The
CPA have attacked critical journalists and closed down hostile
publications in Iraq. It is ridiculous to imagine that Iraqis under
such conditions can freely say to surveyors who may very well be
informers that they oppose the occupying authority, much less support
any resistance to it (talking to pollsters is even less safe than
talking to journalists). Only the most daring or the most foolhardy
would.
--
Yoshie
* Bring Them Home Now! <http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/>
* Calendars of Events in Columbus:
<http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/calendar.html>,
<http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php>, & <http://www.cpanews.org/>
* Student International Forum: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/>
* Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/>
* Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio>
* Solidarity: <http://www.solidarity-us.org/>
