Re: Stars and Stripes: "The whole city, from every side, was fighting"

[Doug Henwood <dhenwood@xxxxxxxxx>]

Carrol Cox wrote:

> I think the emphasis should be on the (rather generally applicable)
> perception that when 1/3 (actually, 1/5 might do it) of a population are
> strongly committed to a negative point, they become rather difficult to
> suppress. Living in an electoral democracy tends to blur this point by
> over-emphasizing the need for majority support. Some of us predicted on
> the basis of polls in Iraq showing something like 15% core rejection of
> the occupation that the Occupation was a dead duck. Others, carrying
> over irrelevant electoral habits, made a big fuss about the large
> numbers not wanting immediate withdrawal -- numbers which were really
> irrelevant.

Lemme see if I understand this: if a majority of Iraqis didn't want
immediate withdrawal, their opinion really shouldn't count, becuase
that's just some distraction brought over from electoral politics?

Doug