(James)Zogby: Iraq war a mistake on many levels

UPI ^ | March 18, 2002 | Martin Sieff

[jbstrick]

"The neoconservative infantile fantasy that the war will last only mere days, that evil will be defeated and that democracy will reign supreme and American influence spread happily throughout the Middle East, is a dangerous notion"

This says it all... Zogby needs to be challenged on this in the future.

[Shermy]

Mr. Zogby, meet Mr. Buchanan...

[RightWhale]

UPI: What then is the justification for this war?

They asked Zogby? Why don't they just ask Saddam Hussein or Chirac? Why not just ask the first member of Hamas they meet on the street?

[shrinkermd]

"Zogby: We are already seeing a spike in anti-Arab and anti-Muslim prejudice. This happened before on a number of occasions: during the Iran hostage crisis, during the first Gulf War, and after the Oklahoma City bombing, and right after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001."

Consistently the Moslems seem to miss the fact that we are not about to let them kill us at will because they either don't like our religion or our culture. There would be no war and no problem if the "religion of peace" had not spent the last ten or more years trying to kill our military and civilians.

If they believe a few rude remarks are such a burden they might consider moving to Iraq, Iran, Palestine where they will have respect and they can ventilate their hatred of Jews and Christians with aplomb.

[LS]

Transparent Shill Alert!

[Jhoffa_]

This says it all... Zogby needs to be challenged on this in the future.

He's not the only one saying it..

I for one am watching with interest how this plays out. There are two very different opinons and two distinct sides to this.

Both of them can't be right. One will be proven right and the other proven wrong, then they will have to "spin" it as to appear to have been right.

I am just watching to see which will be which.

[timestax]

If Zogby loves Saddam so much, maybe he should marry him!!

[thatsnotnice]

I had an aunt that wore a big ring on her right hand. She'd walk into the room and smack my cousin in the back of the head. If she did it just right the ring would raise a knot on his head. He'd rub his head and say "what was that for?"

She'd reply, "Because I know you were thinking of doing something stupid."

And so it should be with Zogby. He should be randomly punched or kicked. Sometimes ten times in a day - sometimes only twice per day. If he asks why, just tell him it's because we know he's thinking something stupid.

[45Auto]

"....spontaneous violence and an apocalyptic conflict can resolve our problems and bring about a far better good in the world."

The only germ of truth in the whole piece. It has been so since the dawn of time and the rise of Homo sapiens. Zogby is just out of touch here. Does he seriously think that one can employ diplomacy and reason with the bastards who sponser and carry out terrorist acts? There's only one thing those lunatics understand and that's the massive application of force.

[45Auto]

Zogby makes it a point to spew out the word "unilaterally" more than four or five times in this set-up, so-called interview. He seems to be saying, "Boohoo, we didn't allow the UN enough time to do its job." Moron. I used to think the guy was non-biased. His true colors have come out. To hell with his polls.

[Torie]

The guy just keeps saying over and over that the chaps who already hate us and are trying to kill us will hate us and try to kill us even more. He doesn't have much to say about the future of Iraq itself. I suspect Zogby doesn't give a damn about Iraq in and of itself.

[Torie]

The pollster is John Zogby, James' brother.

[Pietro]

bookmark for later use.

[Dog Gone]

When I first started to post this, I thought this was an interview with John Zogby, the pollster, and I was prepared to rip him a new one. But I refrained when it realized it was his brother.

Still, it's nearly as disturbing. An arab leader in this country who is this delusional is very bad news.

[savedbygrace]

You have him confused with his brother, John, the pollster.

[Joe Bonforte]

The entire problem with this analysis can be seen again and again in opinion pieces arguing against the war. No one in their right mind believes the war will not have negative effects. That's not the question. The question is whether the benefits outweigh the costs. I believe, as I think the mainstream in American believe, that they do.

To understand that cost-benefit comparison, it is necessary to look at the costs of doing nothing. Zogby does not do that, nor does any other anti-war commentator that I've seen. Is the risk of having a city taken out by a nuclear device not worth a lot on the cost-benefit scale?

The costs that he does proffer are entirely speculative. And I'm really sick of hearing how the terrorists are going to come out of the woodwork after the Iraq war. We heard the same nonsense about Afghanistan, and it was proven to be fallacious. Every indication we have is that the Arabs respect strength, and they are reluctant to attack a strong opponent. But they are contempuous of weakness, or even mercy, and that emboldens them to attack. So Zogby has got it exactly backwards.

[Migraine]

"Wogby: We are already seeing a spike in anti-Arab and anti-Muslim prejudice.

Well, he should take some comfort in the fact that we also now hate the French.

And why am I ever surprised when Wogby condemns U.S. Foreign policy?

[KeyWest]

He is not a reader of history. Democracy was imposed on Japan and Germany after they were defeated. To do nothing is a sign of weakness in about every society there is, not just the Arab. He also has little understanding of Christianity. In all, not a very well informed thinker.

[Verginius Rufus]

There are two kinds of people in the world, those who have a Manichaean view of the world and those who don't. Mani was a native of Iraq.