90% of troops believe Saddam responsible for 9/11?

The troops just don't know or choose not to know.
I've got to wonder, in this "age of the information", is this "willful ignorance"?
Or, for mental stability, are they just trying to justify what they are doing.

I am torn.
I am not trying to bad mouth them them but damn it...what is going on here?
Are they monitored for internet use?
I know two servicemen who served over there and they had unfettered access to the net.
One got all bent about my journal here at DU.



U.S. Troops in Iraq: 72% Say End War in 2006

* Le Moyne College/Zogby Poll shows just one in five troops want to heed Bush
call to stay “as long as they are needed”
* While 58% say mission is clear, 42% say U.S. role is hazy
* Plurality believes Iraqi insurgents are mostly homegrown
* Almost 90% think war is retaliation for Saddam’s role in 9/11, most don’t blame Iraqi public for insurgent attacks
* Majority of troops oppose use of harsh prisoner interrogation
* Plurality of troops pleased with their armor and equipment

An overwhelming majority of 72% of American troops serving in Iraq think the U.S. should exit the country within the next year, and more than one in four say the troops should leave immediately, a new Le Moyne College/Zogby International survey shows.

CONTINUED: http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1075

God knows, they need some education.

What they are told. Unfortunately, most troops are not all that bright so they are easily influenced, which is exacerbated by the Military training to conform, not speak up, and under all circumstances do not search for contradicting info from what you have been told. They are never to question their superiors.

and plenty of other stuff to occupy their minds than searching for depressing (from their mission's point of view) truths.

Most of the troops are very young and impressionable. They are fed a daily diet of Fox News as their only news source. They have been pumped full of propoganda by the Pentagon, which is done to keep them "in the game".

Even with all of this though, 72% of the troops still think we should leave. What does that tell you? In spite of the efforts of our government to justify this war, what the troops are seeing and experiencing on the ground outweights what they are told. They see it and live it every day and have had enough.

They are being fed a constant dose of LIES.

Tell your lies long enough, and people will start to believe them.

1. "90% of troops believe Saddam responsible for 9/11?"

2. "* Almost 90% think war is retaliation for Saddam’s role in 9/11, "


These don't mean exactly the same thing. i.e. one can believe that the 'war is in retaliation' for 9-11 without personally believing that Saddam 'was responsible' for 9/11.

Depends on how exactly the question was worded and how carefully the respondents read it.

That said, I think troops are in Iraq for a variety of reasons ranging from a pathological desire to kill people and get away with it to being bamboozled by the media, the public schools they went to and their glorious commander in chief.

And because signing up is the best of a lot of bad economic options for a lot of young people in our even more glorious global economy of the 21st century.

BTW, is it too late to go back across Clinton's infamous bridge?

Troops being defined here as non officer type boots on the ground folks went and created Abu Ghraib, then committed
massacres in at least one town called Haditha. Officers don't do this kind of stuff of course and the proof of that is that officers do not get
called on the carpet for it. (sarc)
If our troops successfully engage 'the enemy' and or complete a mission successfully why it's only because of the leadership
of the officers and and the brilliance in the Pentagon that such successes occur.
But these darned troops will go and do all kinds of bad stuff when their CO's are gone to the market for the day.
Yeah? Our military leadership is beyond reproach right?
Pause here for: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:

I do not excuse the 'troops' for atrocities but the way the buck stops with them every time really galls me.
Just my take on these kinds of sad stories. They just get sadder for me when I see the grunt taking it on the chin all by him or her self.

I stay out of judgements about the whole war game otherwise. I never was a combat guy and don't presume
to know what it's like nor do I want to know.

I sent this email to them:

In reference to this article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3118262.stm

And I quote..."An overwhelming majority of 72% of American troops serving in Iraq..."

I am asking what this means?
What is an "overwhelming majority" of 72%?

I used this article in some posts online and now people are calling me out on it.

I'd like some clarity please.

I am already being called out on this on other boards.
I wish lousy sentence structures, like that, wouldn't happen.
It looks bad when we try and qualify our sources.
I need to read more closely. GRRRR....

which might explain why they believe wrong things. Wasn't there a study that showed people who watched Fox were more likely to believe things that were wrong?

* Almost 90% think war is retaliation for Saddam’s role in 9/11

Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but that wording doesn't necessarily mean that the soldiers they polled necessarily agree with the Saddam-9/11 link.

A good chunk of that 90% might be saying, "We're fighting this war because the President believes there's a link between Saddam and 9/11." The soldiers' personal opinions on the justification aren't being polled.

A better question would have been: "Do YOU believe that Saddam Hussein had a role in the attacks of 9/11?"

The vast majority of soldiers lean to the right politically.

This isn't surprising...

was brought into bright focus on Randi's show the last two days of the week. She had on her show a seemingly bright young woman just home from Iraq. This woman ( I believe she was an officer) was steadfast in her idea that Saddam was responsible for 911 and that she was fighting to retaliate for this. It was very disturbing to hear her be so adamant in her sad views and even when faced with facts, was reluctant to change her mind. She was also convinced that her "christian" leaders would not EVER lie to her. Whenever I hear anyone in the administration called "christian" I cring.
It just goes to show how deep the brainwashing goes.
Its also sad to see how many of the soldiers are "re-upping" their enlistments. I dont know the exact numbers, but they are mind-numbingingly high.