Wednesday, December 19, 2007

"please go away"

quoteth the wapo:
Iraqis of all sectarian and ethnic groups believe that the U.S. military invasion is the primary root of the violent differences among them, and see the departure of "occupying forces" as the key to national reconciliation, according to focus groups conducted for the U.S. military last month.
which should come as no surprise at all. ever since people started asking, iraqis have consistently told pollsters that they view the u.s. led occupying forces as part of the problem, not part of the solution, and want them to leave.

the difference this time is that the message is coming from the u.s. military's focus groups, i.e. face-to-face contact rather than anonymous polling. which means the iraqis had to have the courage to tell american soldiers in person that they think the u.s. military is making things worse. which takes guts. plus, i can only imagine the uncomfortable silence that followed.