If Zarqawi Could Vote

Charles Paul Freund | November 1, 2004

Via Michael Totten comes this roundup of Iraqi voices addressing the U.S. election. Many are pro-Bush (though not anti-Kerry) because they believe that a Bush loss will be taken as a repudiation of U.S. ambitions to encourage a liberalized Mideast, and will thus be an energizing victory for Zarqawi-type retrogrades.

Others in the Mideast with noteworthy views on the election include this liberal blogger in Egypt (for Bush), the great Michael Young in Beirut (for Bush), and this Dubai-based analyst who has concluded that Zarqawi wants Bush to "look like a loser who failed in Iraq and failed in the war against Al Qaeda and failed to prevent Al Qaeda from establishing a foothold in Iraq."

Comments

|11.1.04 @ 2:57PM|#

Charles Paul Freumd,

Its interesting that you don't note the recent poll (reported at VOA) which indicated that 22.5% of Iraqis favor Kerry, 16% favor Bush and the rest don't care.

|11.1.04 @ 3:11PM|#

Maybe some of already knew of that poll, JB. Maybe CFP wanted reaction to what *he* chose as a focus. Maybe CFP should consult with you first?

|11.1.04 @ 3:17PM|#

Curtis,

My comment is completely fair.

I sent this news to Reason's Hit n' Run "suggestions" a few days ago. And the results of the poll do seem to be relevant to the issue at hand; what Iraqis think of the election ("Iraqi voices"). Furthermore, when in the history of Hit n' Run has the write-up dictated the statements of the posters here?

|11.1.04 @ 3:26PM|#

C'mon Curtis, for once JB made a relevant comment.

|11.1.04 @ 3:28PM|#

A recent NYRB reviewed a book documenting the stories of people who survived some of the most notorious fire bombings of World War II. Believe it or not, there really were people on the ground, some of them slave laborers, who supported their own bombing.

...I doubt they were indicative of public opinion.

|11.1.04 @ 4:06PM|#

Todd Fletcher,

My comments are invariably relevant. :)

norbizness|11.1.04 @ 4:31PM|#

Well, Bush hardly needs Zarqawi's help.

|11.1.04 @ 4:55PM|#

My mistake.

Bravo Romeo Delta|11.1.04 @ 10:10PM|#

Well, whether the post of the VOA results is "relevant" to the items mentioned above is a worthwhile question. Here's the way I see it - the folks who are taking the time to blog and who have strong command of English are, probably, by and large, folks who are more or less part of this mythical liberal Arab constituency we hear about from time to time. So, unless we make the mistake of asuming that the Iraqi bloggers are any more representative of their general public than their American counterparts, then the fact that the blog results and poll results are different shouldn't shock anybody. Then the value of the commentary lies in determining how those who are making an effort to understand their world and communicate their views to people at large view the election and its implications in Iraq.

So, would the results of the larger poll be germaine - the answer is yes (providing that the methodology is sound), but a qualified yes. It's relevant in a larger sense, but not necessarily either an addition to or a detraction from the content of the original post. Secondly, I would note that since, according to your numbers, more than 60% of Iraqis don't seem to have a strong preference, then perhaps the voice of those who have a strong opinion is worth noting, simply by virtue of the fact that strong opinions may be fairly rare.

(And thanks for the link!)