> From: "Luke Weiger"
>
>
> > How do you know the resistance isn't indicative of the wishes of most
> > Iraqis?
> >
> > Seth
>
> Well, I don't "know" (in the Cartesian sense of absolute certainty) that it
> isn't, but the Iraqi opinion polls I've seen, and the interviews with
> ordinary Iraqis I've read, seem to provide pretty good evidence in support
> of my conclusion.
>
> -- Luke
>
> ^^^^^^
> CB: Wouldn't it be unlikely that very many Iraqis who supported the armed
> resistance would say so to American-connected interviewers and pollsters,
> because they would fear being targeted by the occupying army in some way ? I'm
> not saying we know the opposite: that most Iraqis support the resistance.
>
> Many Iraqis might be sort of neutral, supporting neither the Americans nor
> the guerillas.
There do seem to be a lot of reports of American soldiers shooting Iraqis so readily and indiscriminately that they are probably killing and wounding a lot of people who would be in your category of either opposed to the guerillas or neutral. This would probably cause a lot of people to be ,at the very least, very angry at the Americans, some wanting revenge.
I don't know what a majority of Iraqis "support", but by the above inferences I would guess a significant minority support the guerillas at some level, certainly at the level of just having an opinion.
>
> It is difficult to say whether the guerilla attacks are in the best
> interests of the vast majority of Iraqis, for the Americans retaliate too, and
> against non-guerillas. But it is not surprising that there is a resistance
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