I’ve Moved!
November 20, 2008
So I’m sure that most people have noticed that the site has been offline for a few days. There’s a reason for that, which I will get to shortly. But first, let me just say this:
In fact, I am blogging at a new site I have just finished setting up: kennethhynek.net. A full explanation for the reasons behind the move can be found here
.
That said, this is not the end of Time Immortal. My wife Grace has expressed interest in taking over blogging at this domain, and I am working to make sure that she gets set up here as soon as possible.
Also, my profound apologies for the modification to the site face; the move was not as seamless as I would have hoped, and many of the image files for this theme, and in the gallery, were corrupted during the course of their evacuation from my previous web host’s servers. Until such time as I have repaired them, I’ve put a clean-looking template in place of the previous one.
Update: for the purposes of further traffic shaping, new posts from kennethhynek.net will be excerpted below. Full articles can be read at the new blog.
Strange statistics from Iraq
March 19, 2007
I noticed this article on Google News this morning:
A majority of Iraqis support insurgent attacks on American and British troops, but almost two-thirds simultaneously believe the US-led coalition shouldn�t pull out in the near future, a BBC poll has found.
The survey’s findings will add to pressure in the US for a withdrawal from Iraq
The nationwide survey of Iraqi public opinion was carried out to mark the fourth anniversary tomorrow of the invasion to overthrow Saddam Hussein.
Although most results indicated increased pessimism in the war-torn country, many people also expressed determination to stay in Iraq until its problems are resolved.
Out of 2,000 people questioned across all 18 provinces more than half, 51 per cent, said they supported “politically motivated” attacks on coalition forces.
However when asked if foreign forces should withdraw from Iraq only 35 per cent agreed. Almost double that number, 63 per cent, wanted the coalition to stay until security was restored.
I’m not sure what to make of these numbers, to be honest, but on the surface of things it strikes me as very hypocritical: they want the coalition forces to stay until such time as Iraqi security is restored, but support — albeit narrowly — the objectives of those who attack the coalition forces and thus contribute to the insecurity.
It reminds me of Robin Williams’ jokes about French policy toward America: “ve don’t need you, filthy Americans…oh, look…zee Germans! ‘Allo Americans, ve love you!” (I quote from memory).
At the same time, I can’t say as though I’m surprised. More than a third of Iraqis, according to the same survey, seem to think that a return to government-by-strongman is a good thing for the nation, which is staggering. Sure, Saddam’s nation was essentially secure…if you didn’t mind his yearly body count numbering in the numerous thousands. The insurgency is brutal in its methodology and seems to strike a range of targets…but as yet they’ve got a long way to go before their death toll matches that of the last strongman ruler of Iraq.
But as staggering as that is, it’s the hypocrisy that gets me: the Iraqi people, by this survey, seem to be saying “make us secure while we support those who kill you” — which I suppose might be a consistent attitude for them to adopt if they saw the whole of the coalition forces as one vast collection of dhimmis…although that viewpoint only lasts as far as the observation that if the coalition forces are, in fact, dhimmis, they are exceedingly well-armed dhimmis.
But now that I think about it, the above attitude would explain the survey results better than some conjectures that I could make.
The reader will have to permit me one indelicacy in asking this next question: is there a majority Muslim nation anywhere in the world that is not screwed up and hypocritical like this?
