Soldiers in Iraq Sound Off

Clearly, these soldiers do not know what they are talking. The politicians at home are much better able to comment on what we should be doing there.

If these guys had just gone and gotten an education, they wouldn't be there to begin with.

 

More sounding off

Hear Kevin Tillman (brother of Pat Tillman) sound off -->After Pat's Birthday

Hear a Zogby survey of troops -->U.S. Troops in Iraq: 72% Say end war in Iraq

Hear retired U.S. generals --> Revolt of the Generals

Over 200 active duty soldiers have signed the following petition for redress --> An Appeal for Redress from the War in Iraq

Aggression against Iraq was a mistake and every day soldiers are in Iraq, increases the severity of the mistake and increases the casualties as a result of this mistake. There is more evidence to support that soldiers do not support continued action in Iraq then that they do. There is not a clearly defined cause for aggression, there is no clearly defined objective in continued aggression and there is no clearly defined objective for exiting. More and more of our soldiers are realizing this and it is past time for them to be brought home and returned to their families, so that they might begin recovering from their extended duties.

 

I didn't comment on what "dozens of soldiers across the country said" or that "many soldiers said that the United States should not abandon the effort" or that "Numerous soldiers expressed frustration with the nature of the fight". These terms are few at best and vague at worst and do not represent the thoughts of the American military currently serving in Iraq and resembles propaganda closer than good journalism.

However, a Zogby poll that surveys 944 randomly selected soldiers and presents both a history of reliable polling data and discloses its sampling methodology...well that would seem more reliable then the source you provided as being the voice of the military. When 72% of these polled participants indicate that they feel the United States should leave within the year, then I believe that is more representative of military opinions then a Washington Post opinion piece.

This information is further corroborated when retired generals voice similar views. Further, when a family I admire, such as the Tillmans, begin to speak out, then maybe it would be time for people to start to reevaluate their views and take a more objective approach to what has occured and what is occuring in Iraq.

I have heard it said that socialism requires two legs on which to stand, a right and a left. We should all consider whether or not we are party to being one of these legs.

 

Ummm...I quoted from it three times and called it propaganda.

 

In the end, it's not about what soldiers say. It is not even now about whether or not we should have gone. It is about finishing the job. We cannot have another Vietnam, where we leave in disgrace and shame because of the weak will of people in power.

We need to keep training Iraqis and turn the country over to them. We cannot leave before it is done.

 

Tillman's is one man's views. It is not being advertised as anything other. The Post article takes comments from a couple of military professionals and suggests that their comments represent "many" or "numerous" people without substantiation.

 

I do not discount that the soldiers in the article were expressing their opinion in the same way that Tillman was expressing his. The Post article suggests that those few that they received comments from represent the "many" or "numerous" military professionals. The Zogby survey provides actual data that refutes the position that the Post is attempting to propogate. Set aside the individual quotes and what you have is a survey in Zogby providing data and opinions without data provided by the Post. Would you have a source that shows a survey similar to the methodology used by Zogby that would refute the Zogby survey?

 

I can not speak for them but I expect that they thought this was the number that best represented the population they were sampling and it got them within a reported error rate of +/- 3.3%.

 

There are women combat troops and this is a heinous barbaric situation. Could you elaborate on how you believe this applies to this thread?

Very well. It is showing the minority position but it is not proving its case that it is speaking on behalf of the "many" nor the "numerous".

I've heard the story and when I was a rah rah nationalist and it fit my preconceived bias, I believed this stuff.

 

Approximately 20% of the support and service personnel in the Iraqi theater are females. Since these interviews were done in person it is possible that the females were more available as a greater percentage of the men were likely in combat situations and not as easily accessible.

You are reaching to try to discredit the Zogby information and you don't want to believe the probability of its accuracy so I'm not sure of the value in continuing this dialogue.

I ignored the "Puh leez" but the "duh" is pretty silly. I mistakenly thought I was reasoning with an adult but apparently I'm talking to a 14 year old valley girl.