United States Made a Mistake in Sending Troops to Iraq, by Religious Affiliation, 2005-2007 Gallup Polls
Religious War War Preference a mistake not a mistake
Black 78 18 Protestants
Jews 77 21
In the USA, race and ethnicity count more than religion, and that's one of the reasons indiscriminate attacks on religion as such makes no sense. Since Black Americans are poorer than Jewish Americans, adjusted for incomes Jewish Americans are more opposed to the war than Black Americans. Moreover, "Sixty-five percent of non-Democratic Jews oppose the war, compared with just 38% of non-Democrats of all other religious groups," so that means even Republican Jews are strongly opposed to the war!
According to a Ha'aretz article today (which also discusses this Gallup poll), an AJC survey says that Reform Jews are more opposed to the war than "Just Jewish" secular Jews: "It is interesting to compare this conclusion to the break down of numbers from the latest AJC survey of Jewish opinion (2006) according to religious affiliation. These numbers were never made public, but I have them in hand. 'Looking back, do you think the United States did the right thing in taking military action against Iraq, or should the U.S. have stayed out?' the poll asks. The majority of orthodox Jews said 'right' (56 percent), majority of Conservative (32 percent) Reform (73 percent) and 'just Jewish' (66 percent) said wrong. The Orthodox tend to be more Democratic (44 percent) than Republican (31 percent) but are the only group in which there is no Democratic majority" ("Why Do American Jews Oppose the Iraq War More than Everybody Else?" 25 Feb 07, <http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/rosnerBlog.jhtml?itemNo=830250&contrassID=25&subContrassID=0&sbSubContrassID=1&listSrc=Y&art=1>).
On 12 March 2007, the Union of Reform Judaism's Board of Trustees Executive Committee will be voting on the following resolution (cf <http://urj.org/>). If this had come a little sooner, and the leadership had promoted it more than Darfur, it would have been great.
The way the White House is expanding and proliferating its wars and interventions, though, we need a stronger action than this now.
1. Reaffirm the principles stated in the 2005 Resolution
on the War in Iraq, particularly:
A. Commending our service women and men (and their families)
who have answered duty's call and served our nations honorably
…and support generous benefits for them;
B. Encouraging the involvement and support of the international
community towards a working democratic Iraqi government and
rebuilding Iraq's infrastructure;
C. Ensuring the United States government provides sufficient armor,
supplies, and security for our troops through the completion of
phased withdrawal;
D. Providing diligent congressional oversight of the war and related
expenditures;
E. Ensuring that the financial burden of the war falls not just
on the poor and on future generations, but be shared equitably;
F. Immediately begin the process of phased withdrawal of
our troops from Iraq now that Iraqi Parliamentary elections have
occurred; and
2. Call on President Bush to:
A. Clearly set and announce a timetable for the phased and
expeditious withdrawal of United States troops from Iraq;
B. Include the estimated cost of the war in the annual budget
request and not through emergency supplemental bills; and
3. Oppose an escalation in troop strength; and
4. Call upon the United States and Canadian governments
and the international community to:
A. Encourage Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Malaki
to resume reconciliation talks with the full range of Iraq's
political leaders;
B. Actively support a dialogue between Iraq and all its
neighbors, especially in regards to helping to stop civil strife
and terrorism and helping finance Iraqi job programs
and reconstruction.
-- Yoshie <http://montages.blogspot.com/> <http://mrzine.org> <http://monthlyreview.org/>