Re: Milan Rai on UN occupation of Iraq

[Yoshie Furuhashi <furuhashi.1@xxxxxxx>]

> Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
>
> > It's absurd to think that the occupied can freely say what they
> > believe if they suspect that they have a good chance of talking to
> > an informer.
>
> Then why did nearly 20% say that it was ok to attack U.S. troops?
> Why did something like 50% say they had unfavorable opinions of
> Blair & Bush? I ask again, have you actually read any of the poll
> results?
>
> Doug

To my knowledge, it's not yet illegal to have unfavorable opinions of
Blair & Bush.  To make one comparison, Palestinian citizens of Israel
are free to have unfavorable opinions of Sharon and Bush, but they
can't freely make remarks that the state of Israel may interpret as
prohibited activities -- take the case of Azmi Bishara, for instance,
who was accused of having:

*****   a. Verbally published words of praise, sympathy, and
encouragement for acts of violence that are liable to cause the death
or injury of a person.
b. Verbally published words of praise, sympathy and a call to assist
and support a terrorist organization.
c. Performed in public an act that contains a revelation of
identification with a terrorist organization or sympathy towards it.

<http://www.azmibishara.info/indictments/politicalspeeches.pdf>   *****

As for 20% of Iraqis who say that it's OK to attack US troops, I
suppose that 20% of Iraqis are very courageous or foolhardy or both,
just as a good number of daring Iraqis have held street
demonstrations against the occupation even though some of them have
been shot by occupying soldiers and a smaller number of them have
taken up arms against them, an activity that is even more dangerous
to themselves and their loved ones.
--
Yoshie

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