Sunnis ARE the majority in Iraq.

[LynnTheDem]

Iraq's Sunnis are in a clear majority, as Shiite scholars conceded that Shiites could make up as much as 40 percent of the whole population.

The statistics, released by a reliable international humanitarian relief agency in 2003, suggested that Sunnis make up 58 percent of the Iraqi population and Shiites 40 percent.

The remainder, 2 percent, include Christians and Jews.

The international relief group had found in statistics released in 1997 that Sunnis outnumber Shiites by more than 819,000 people.

Other statistics, collected with dependence on counts of the Central Statistics Office of the former Iraqi Health Ministry and a study by an Iraqi academician, believed that the numerical gap is much lesser, with Sunnis estimated at 53 percent and Shiites at 47 percent.

http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2004-01/29/article02.shtml

http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=2784

Sure is easier though for bushCartel to call the Sunnis a little minority of "dead-enders". It wouldn't be as easy to justify to Americans the US invading & overthrowing a MAJORITY population, after all.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

1. Bush Sucks But He Didn't Change Iraqi Demographics

http://www.nationbynation.com/

Atleast 95% percent of population adheres to some form of Islam. Government gives number of Shias as 55% but probably 60% to 65% is reasonable figure. Most Iraqi Shias are Arabs. Almost all Kurds, approximately 19% of population, are Sunnis, together with about 13% Sunni Arabs. Total Arab population in 1987 given by government as 76%. Remainder of population small numbers of Turkomans, mostly Sunni Muslims; Assyrians and Armenians, predominantly Christians; Yazidis, of Kurdish stock with a syncretistic faith; and a few Jews.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

2. more

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq

Most Arab Iraqi Muslims are members of the Shiite sect, but there is a large Sunni population as well, made up of both Arabs and Kurds. Small communities of Christians, Bahá'ís, Mandaeans, and Yezidis also exist. Most Kurds are Sunni Muslim but differ from their Arab neighbours in language, dress, and customs

[LynnTheDem]

5. NEW stats

Belying Previous Statistics

The latest statistics came to belie earlier studies showing that Shiites are a majority in the already sectarian-turbulent country.

"The number of Shiites, I think, is averaged at 40 or 45 percent of the whole population against 53 percent of Sunnis," the Shiite Mohamed Jawwad Ali told Quds Press news agency.

[LynnTheDem]

3. Did you read the link?

Govt stats have put the Sunni as majority since 1997.

New stats show a Sunni majority 2003.

The SHIA concede they are apx 40%. Sunnis are the majority.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

4. Another Source...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3771141.stm

Since the fall of Saddam Hussein, the previously oppressed majority Shia Muslims have risen to gain influence that reflects their 60% share of the country's population.



I trust the BBC....

[LynnTheDem]

6. Fine. The BBC also says the invasion is justified. That tells me enough.

And you just ignore what NEW stats and the SHIA say.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

7. Where Did The BBC Justify The Invasion?

here's another link

http://encarta.msn.com/guide_iraqdivisions/Iraq_Religious_and_Ethnic_Divisions.html


About 35 to 40 percent of the Muslims in Iraq adhere to the Sunni* branch of Islam. Sunni Muslims live principally in the regions north and west of Baghdād. Baghdād itself contains sizable populations of both Sunni and Shia Muslims.
The majority of Iraqis--about 60 to 65 percent of the nation's Muslims--adhere to the Shia* branch of Islam. Shia Muslims live mostly in central and southern Iraq. The area encompasses the country's most productive agricultural region, and also includes strategically important southern cities such as Al Başrah* (Basra), an important oil-refining center, and Umm Qaşr, Iraq's main port city.

------

[LynnTheDem]

9. BBC was the MOST PRO-WAR media in the UK.

Study on Iraq coverage shows BBC was most pro-war of British

* Over the three weeks of conflict, 11 percent of the sources quoted by the BBC were of coalition government or military origin. This was the highest proportion of all the main television broadcasters. The BBC used government sources twice as much as ITN and Channel 4 News.

* The BBC was the least likely to quote official Iraqi sources, and less likely than Sky, ITV or Channel 4 News to use independent sources of news such as the Red Cross. Channel 4 used these sources three times more often than the BBC, and Sky twice as often.

* The BBC placed least emphasis on Iraqi casualties, which were mentioned in 22 percent of its stories about the Iraqi people. Numbers of casualties received most prominence on Channel 4 News, figuring in 40 percent of its reports about Iraqis, compared with Sky at 30 percent and ITN at 24 percent.

* The BBC was least likely to report on the opposition of the Iraqi population to the invasion.

* Across all four broadcasters, the bulletins were three times more likely to present the Iraqi population as pro-invasion than anti-invasion. The exception to the ratio was Channel 4, where it was just less than two to one.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/jul2003/bbc-j10.shtml

The BBC And Iraq: Myth and Reality

Media Tenor, the non-partisan, Bonn-based media research organisation, has examined the Iraq war reporting of some of the world’s leading broadcasters, including the US networks and the BBC. It concentrated on the coverage of opposition to the war.

The second-worst case of denying access to anti-war voices was ABC in the United States, which allowed them a mere 7 per cent of its overall coverage. The worst case was the BBC, which gave just 2 per cent of its coverage to opposition views – views that represented those of the majority of the British people. A separate study by Cardiff University came to the same conclusion. The BBC, it said, had "displayed the most pro-war agenda of any (British) broadcaster."

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig4/pilger1.html

Study deals a blow to claims of anti-war bias in BBC news

Downing Street's complaints about anti-war bias within the BBC appear to be disproved by an academic analysis that shows the corporation displayed the most "pro-war" agenda of any broadcaster.
A detailed study of peak-time television news bulletins during the course of the Iraq war shows that the BBC was more reliant than any of its rivals on government and military sources.

http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/news/story/0,9830,991343,00.html

[DemocratSinceBirth]

10. I Did Post Grad Work In Poli Sci At FSU..

I took Politics of The Middle East from Dr. Monte Palmer...

We learned that Iraq is a predominately Shia nation... Now granted that was twenty years ago ....

So I did a google search and every site I see listed confirms that fact...

It doesn't affect my analysis that the war is a colossal error...

[LynnTheDem]

11. Even the SHIA say they are in fact 40% which is a minority.

The LATEST stats are from LAST YEAR and BOTH groups who did the stats, both non-partisan NGOs, show the Shia as the minority at 40-43% and Sunni at 53%.

I KNOW just about everything you find still relates to OLD STATS of the Shia being the majority, but they are not the majority in Iraq and htey have not been the majority in Iraq for some time now.

But whatever. The world media used to widely report the world as being flat, too. So someday, perhaps if & when elections in Iraq actually ever happen, it will become common knowledge that the Sunni are the majority.

Until then, I'll stick with the latest stats and the latest Shia remarks on the subject, and you of course are free to stick with yours. :)

As for the invasion being an error, I agree but more than an error it was ILLEGAL, IMMORAL, UNJUST and bloody WRONG. And America will sorely rue the day bushCartel started this shit. Just like all the
top US military brass warned.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

8. Wes Clark

General Clark said the invasion of Iraq was "the greatest strategic blunder in the history of the republic."

That's enough for me....

[RafterMan]

12. That was never the argument

They weren't claiming that "a few thousand dead-enders" was synonymous with the 40% of the country they said was Sunni.

Second, I note that the article claims the idea of a Shiite majority was first propogated by "a jewish writer". And we know what that means...

Third, from what little I've read of it, the whole site seems Sunni biased anyway.

Fourth, it's a moot point. If they don't hold the election, there's going to be big trouble and if they do, it should decide the issue independent of surveys.

[LynnTheDem]

13. Actually bush DID make it an issue, many many many times

He constantly portrayed the Sunni as a small minority holding the huge Shia majority hostage to their nasty evil-doer ways.

If it were known that the Sunni were in fact the majority, how would bush have sold the idea of invasion to "liberate" the majority?

He COULDN'T have.

The Sunni are the majority, the Shia are the minority, and the SHIA THEMSELVES SAID SO LAST YEAR.

If you don't like the site I linked to, you are welcome to goole for that word-for-word article available on many other news sites. Pick one you like better...altho the article is identical, whichever site you prefer to read it on. ;)

There won't be any representative elections in Iraq for years. There's a WAR going on; how hilarious that bush & Cartel think they can pull off an election in a raging war.

[RafterMan]

15. No, he didn't

The figure was always set around 40%. And can we not agree that the government of Saddam was bad, whatever the demographics and whatever we thought of the invasion? Are you saying he was okay just as long as sunni were the majority?

Second, you say THE SHIA SAID SO. Well, bunk. This one guy doesn't speak for THE SHIA.

Next, Islam Online is the source for the articles on all the sites. Since english-speaking islam is filled with sunni-driven converts, it's unsurprising that it's widely carried.

Finally, I repeat that it's politically moot. Switching the apointed government from 60-40 shiite to 60-40 sunni -- even if that did represent the underlying reality -- will do nothing to solve current problems. However hard it is, you need the election.

(on edit, Saudi muppets was too strong a phrase)

[LynnTheDem]

14. Link; Online Democracy (not "Sunni biased")

http://ins.onlinedemocracy.ca/print.php?sid=2220