<HTML> <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">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.</BLOCKQUOTE> 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. <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px"> 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</BLOCKQUOTE> </HTML>