Poll: Baghdad Residents Glad Saddam Gone

[hypnagogue]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Most residents of Baghdad say that ousting Saddam Hussein was worth the hardships they've endured since then, says a Gallup poll that shows they are divided on whether the country is worse off or better off than before the U.S. invasion.

Two-thirds, 67 percent, say they think that Iraq will be in better condition five years from now than it was before the U.S.-led invasion. Only 8 percent say they think it will be worse off.

But they're not convinced that Iraq is better off now - 47 percent said the country is worse off than before the invasion and 33 percent said it is better off.

...

The survey found that 62 percent think ousting Saddam was worth the hardships they have endured since the invasion. In the five months since coalition forces defeated Saddam and his armies, Iraq has faced continuing violence, electrical outages, job shortages and civil unrest.

http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IRAQ_POLL?SITE=PAPIT&SECTION=HOME

 

[drag]

And that's in Baghdad - the capital where many people
felt a bit better than in most other places about
Saddam's regime. It'a good to know that more people
are free now, I hope they overcome theor current
material hardships quickly.

Live long and prosper.

 

[Zero]

Well, so what? It isn't as though they are happy about things...and as America continues to fail, those numbers will change.

 

[drag]

Originally posted by Zero
Well, so what?

Well, maybe hypnagogue just mentioned it as a fact
by itself - a worthy fact in it's own right without
implying anything he hides behind his back or
applying it as part of some conspiracy theory that
some really bored people with no real problems love
making up. Those people had and have real problems
and they're happy because something real - a serious
change happened in their lives, something that really
matters to them, unlike a disturbing picture in a newspaper
or something which seems to concern other people by
its incompatibility to their morning cofee and daughnut.

Live long and prosper.

 

[Zero]

Drag, do you ever post on topic?

Anyhoio, Iraqis are in many ways worse off than they were under Saddam Hussein. They are certainly not more free.

 

[drag]

Originally posted by Zero
Anyhoio, Iraqis are in many ways worse off than they were under Saddam Hussein. They are certainly not more free.

Hmm... looking at all those polls, I have to ask -
did you forget to update them on what you want their
opinions to be ?

 

[hypnagogue]

Interesting how you are more qualified to assess the situation than the actual Iraqi people who had to live under Hussein's rule.

 

[Zero]

Originally posted by drag
Hmm... looking at all those polls, I have to ask -
did you forget to update them on what you want their
opinions to be ?

Looking at all these polls, you get the feeling that people are optimistic, but not happy. They hope for the best, but they are currently getting the worst. I think the prevailing attitude is 'Thanks for getting rid of Saddam, now go home."

 

[FZ+]

Hmm... Didn't Hussein get a 100% support vote before? Funny how we select which polls to trust...

Also, this poll is out of date. US support is gradually falling, and Bush is failing to address the situation with the required seriousness.

 

[hypnagogue]

Originally posted by FZ+
Hmm... Didn't Hussein get a 100% support vote before? Funny how we select which polls to trust...

Only makes sense that citizens living beneath a corrupt dictator would fear expressing dissent. That is precisely the kind of principle that dictatorships run on.

 

[Zero]

Originally posted by hypnagogue
Only makes sense that citizens living beneath a corrupt dictator would fear expressing dissent. That is precisely the kind of principle that dictatorships run on.

Sounds like someone a lot closer to home than Saddam Hussein.

 

[russ_watters]

Originally posted by Zero
Looking at all these polls, you get the feeling that people are optimistic, but not happy.

There are two polls here: one measuring optomism, one pessimism.

The first measures optomism - it will get better. The second measures pessimism - it isn't better now.

Since the middle of a war is about as bad as it gets, a poll like this is better at measuring PESSIMISM, not optomism because virtually anything right before a war is better than right after a war. And when your life is in the crapper, its tough to consider what is beyond your next meal, much less what is five years ahead of you.

That said, it is pretty extrordinary that the Iraqi people show more optomism than pessimism. Maybe that's a testament to Saddam's rule and our action to remove him.

Hmm... Didn't Hussein get a 100% support vote before? Funny how we select which polls to trust...

You aren't serious, are you? Are you saying you actually BELIEVE that 100% of a population could like anyone? FZ+, I KNOW you are better than that in assessing credibility.

Anyhoio, Iraqis are in many ways worse off than they were under Saddam Hussein. They are certainly not more free.

And you base that on what? The number of people we have executed for political reasons? Zero, sometimes I wonder if you think the sky is green.

 

[Zero]

Originally posted by russ_watters
There are two polls here: one measuring optomism, one pessimism.

The first measures optomism - it will get better. The second measures pessimism - it isn't better now.

Since the middle of a war is about as bad as it gets, a poll like this is better at measuring PESSIMISM, not optomism because virtually anything right before a war is better than right after a war. And when your life is in the crapper, its tough to consider what is beyond your next meal, much less what is five years ahead of you.

That said, it is pretty extrordinary that the Iraqi people show more optomism than pessimism. Maybe that's a testament to Saddam's rule and our action to remove him.
You aren't serious, are you? Are you saying you actually BELIEVE that 100% of a population could like anyone? FZ+, I KNOW you are better than that in assessing credibility. And you base that on what? The number of people we have executed for political reasons? Zero, sometimes I wonder if you think the sky is green.

Well, freedom is relative, isn't it? The Iraqi people are free from Saddam, but noit free from U.S. troops gunning them down in teh stret for no reason. They used to be free from lack of water, food, and medicine, but we screwed that right up for them. Hell, they used to have jobs and communities!

And, I'm curious to see what sort of freedom will exist under the new government...what, no new government? You mean no one planned for the future of Iraq after securing the oil? Big surprise there...

 

[drag]

Originally posted by Zero
The Iraqi people are free from Saddam, but not free from U.S. troops gunning them down in teh street for no reason.

Sure, they shoot'em by the dozens every morning for excercise
just like Israeli soldiers go around looking for Palestinians
to shoot when they're bored. Oh... who's that at the door ?
A flower delivery from Bin-Laden ?

 

[Zero]

Originally posted by drag
Sure, they shoot'em by the dozens every morning for excercise
just like Israeli soldiers go around looking for Palestinians
to shoot when they're bored. Oh... who's that at the door ?
A flower delivery from Bin-Laden ?

Unlike you, I see reality, and not just accept the lies from the White House. If you paid attention, you would know that U.S. troops are raiding the houses of innocents, shooting police, etc.

 

[hypnagogue]

Originally posted by Zero
Sounds like someone a lot closer to home than Saddam Hussein.

The very fact that you are expressing your dissent on this forum contradicts your premise.

 

[drag]

Originally posted by Zero
Unlike you, I see reality, and not just accept the lies from the White House. If you paid attention, you would know that U.S. troops are raiding the houses of innocents, shooting police, etc.

Hmm... No offense, really, but I think you should seek help man.

 

[Zero]

Originally posted by hypnagogue
The very fact that you are expressing your dissent on this forum contradicts your premise.

Give it a few years...this administration already wants the power to read our emails, know what library books we check out...And this is off topic

 

[hypnagogue]

It looks right now like the current administration won't be around long enough to do any of that. Your concerns are legitimate, I'm just not so sure that they're so easily polarized into bad republicans and good democrats.

 

[FZ+]

You aren't serious, are you? Are you saying you actually BELIEVE that 100% of a population could like anyone? FZ+, I KNOW you are better than that in assessing credibility.

And you seriously believe that a poll carried out in a city where even the basic communications is down, where the streets are patroled by occupying troops (more so than any other city in Iraq), conducted by employees from the coalition, with Baathist supporters hounded into hiding, based on people who were "eager to talk" is so much more representative?

I am saying that reservations should be place on such polls, especially as the situation there is so unstable.

 

[russ_watters]

Zero, being opinionated is fine (I'm opinionated too), but sometimes you go to far. You have gone too far in this thread.

 

[Zero]

Originally posted by hypnagogue
It looks right now like the current administration won't be around long enough to do any of that. Your concerns are legitimate, I'm just not so sure that they're so easily polarized into bad republicans and good democrats.

I think it is more 'bad Republicans, very slightly less bad Democrats, completely nutty neoconservatives.'