A Letter From The Troops

A Letter From The Troops
By James Zogby, TomPaine.com. Posted March 1, 2006.

In wars of America's century just past, we have sent our soldiers to far-off fields of battle and were left to wonder about their opinions of the life-and-death conflicts in which they were involved.

Letters home, and more recently telephone calls and emails, would give us a peek into their states of mind. Some who returned would regale friends and family with tales from the front lines.

Times have now changed. A first-ever survey of U.S. troops on the ground fighting in Iraq was released February 28, 2006. The findings are surprising, particularly the fact that an overwhelming majority of 72 percent of American troops in Iraq think the U.S. should exit the country within the next year. Further, the new Le Moyne College/Zogby International survey shows that more than one in four (29 percent) thought the U.S. should pull its troops immediately.

(snip)

The survey included 944 military respondents interviewed at several undisclosed locations throughout Iraq. The names of the specific locations and specific personnel who conducted the survey are being withheld for security purposes. Surveys were conducted face-to-face using random sampling techniques. The margin of error for the survey, conducted Jan. 18 through Feb. 14, 2006, is +/- 3.3 percentage points.

In other words, the poll is a sound, scientific measurement of what is going through the minds of our front-line warriors. It's no letter home, but it's still good to hear from them.

http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/32950/