Russert now again bringing up that 60% of people do not support war... See, here is one example we can sink our teeth into. According to Russert, do 60% of the people want an immediate pullout? Of course not! But Russert doesn't define what he means by stating this, so the implication is for immediate ceasefire and withdraw. Words have meaning. What does Russert mean with this statistic?
Not what the poll measures, I'd wager. I suspect it measures a number of opposite views. It might be measuring some dissatisfaction that we haven't completely won yet, like the home town teams fans who get more nervous in overtime. It might mean that, yes, some want an immediate withdraw of the US military. It might mean some want us to bring on the B-52s and start carpet bombing. Or all of the above.
So we need to check this poll he cites and see what the heck it's trying to measure. If it's as above, as I think it is, I'll be sending Mr. Russert a note.
This is exactly what William Hague said today on one of the Sunday talk shows in Britain that people are getting focused on that there are 2 options for Iraq, immediate withdrawal or phased with date withdrawal whereas there are a lot more options than that.
He said of course we want our servicemen home as soon as possible but we should leave Iraq a stable country. I read between the lines here that he and the Conservative Party certainly would not be pushing the government for withdrawal.
William Hague said that Britain needs to be involved though in the discussions which of course Tony Blair will be via video link this week.
He was asked about Syria and Iran whether Britain should push the US to engage in talks with them regarding the region which is what is rumoured Blair will be pushing for during this video link. William Hague stated we should be concentrating on the more moderate countries in the region and getting dialog with them and to include Syria and Iran is naive at present one would like to in the future but at present it would not be possible.
Personally I do not agree with Tony Blair if he is going suggest talks with Iran and Syria I believe that like William Hague it would be naive to think we can engage with them at present.