POLL: Lebanese Public Opinion

[liberalpragmatist]

These are supposedly the results of a Lebanese opinion poll. Take the results with a grain of salt because there is no published confirmation and because the statistical methods may not be absolutely reliable given that most relied on interviews and given the wartime situation.

Still, I think these results are interesting if true. And they would confirm exactly what I feared would happen - that the Lebanese would unite with Hezbollah and against Israel and the West, ultimately making Israel's position a lot more precarious and seriously hurting efforts to cultivate feelings of goodwill towards the West. This was the most pro-Western country in the Middle East outside of Israel!

A note about the blogger - his blog is appropriately-named the Angry Arab. He is very harsh in his criticism of Israel and the U.S. although on religious matters he is quite moderate and critical of Islamic societies as well. His tone is VERY strident, although I see nothing there that's anti-Semitic. PLEASE correct me if you find something to the contrary.

http://angryarab.blogspot.com/

So what do the Lebanese people really think?

Now that there are American Zionists who regularly speak on behalf of the Lebanese people, now that I have seen Bush--BUSH--speak about what the people of Lebanon need, and now that some Lebanese mercenaries and war criminals have been anointed to speak on behalf of Lebanon, we have at least a survey of Lebanese public opinion. It was conducted by the reliable Markaz Bayrut li-l-Abhath (and I thank `Abduh and Amal for sharing the unpublished results with me). These are some of the highlights: 70 % support the capture of the two Israeli soldiers (73.1 among Sunnis, 96.3 among Shi`ites, 40% among Druzes, and 55 among Christians); 87% support that "the resistance fight Israeli aggression on Lebanon" (88.9 among Sunnis, 96.3 among Shi`ites, 80% among Druzes, and 80% among Christians); 8% think that America adopted a positive position toward Lebanon during this war (7.9% among Sunnis, 4 among Shi`ites, 13.6 among Druzes, and 15 among Christians).

PS Sample size is 800. The overwhelming majority were face- to -face interviews (including all displaced individuals).

Let me put those results in a clearer form:

Percentage of Lebanese who...

Support the capture of two Israeli soldiers - 70% overall
* Shi'ites: 96.3%
* Sunnis: 73.1%
* Druze: 40%
* Christians: 55%

Support the "Resistance Fight Against Israeli Aggression" - 87% overall
* Shi'ites: 88.9%
* Sunnis: 96.3%
* Druze: 80%
* Christians: 80%

Support America's Position - 8%
* Shi'ites: 4%
* Sunnis: 7.9%
* Druze: 13.6%
* Christians: 15%

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

1. sooo anyone surprised

Don't you just love someone bombing you.

[liberalpragmatist]

2. Kicking this

:kick: