Good news and bad news

The good news....
The request to march past Westminster and Whitehall has been granted!

The route is now as follows:

• Malet St
• Russell Square - (Expats Against Bush meet here @ 1PM)
• Southampton Row
• Kingsway
• Aldwych
• Waterloo Bridge
• York Road
• Westminster Bridge
• Parliament Square
• Whitehall
• Trafalgar Square

The BBC have their own map which is slightly incorrect - we're going down Southampton Row, not Bloomsbury.

The bad news....
... is that the headline in today's Guardian is Protests begin but majority backs Bush visit as support for war surges - which is slightly misleading.

It's true, according to the poll more Brits favor the Bush visit than don't (43% for vs 36% against according to the poll) but at the end of the day only 2 out of 5 people are willing to stump up and say that they are definitely in favor of the visit - with 1 out of 5 of people undecided or preferring not to say. Hardly an overwhelming show of confidence. Especially when you add in the usual statistical margin of error, the difference between 43% and 36% is not tremendous.

There's a silver lining to this cloud, though.

The other questions in the poll find that we expats tend to be in step with the British public on a number of fronts. 6 out of 10 see America as a "force for good around the world", which should stick a pin in any arguments from the press in America that all of Europe is a bastion of anti-Americanism.

Nearly half see the Iraq war as justified - now I personally disagree with that statement, but there are a lot of people in Expats Against Bush who are not anti-war per se, and this only serves to underline the fact that we cannot make the war the only issue that we march about.

Nearly 7 out of 10 say we should stay in Iraq to clean up the mess we made, and I for one agree with that wholeheartedly.

Thoughts?

Comments

[Sarah Forrester]

Since I've studied research methods and statistics, I always look at opinion polls skeptically. Did anyone notice how in the first paragraph or this article they say "a majority of labour voters support Bush's visit", but the first statistic given is NOT about that? Instead they say "62% of voters believe the U.S. is a force for good" (which is NOT the same as supporting Bush or the visit). IN FACT, they never even say what percentage of LABOUR voters support the visit! Seriously, go read the article again and see if you can find it! It's laughable, the type of trick they are playing with your eyes here. . .you see "support Bush's visit" and then right away "62%"--This is one you've got to read critically and carefully, something not everyone does, unfortunately.

It's quite interesting that the article doesn't mention the discrepancy between those who "think America is a force for good" (62%) and those who "welcome Bush's visit" (43%). That's one that can't be put down to margins of error. Instead, they state that because 62% are Pro-American, the Bush's visit "will not be as damaging to Tony Blair as previously thought". Arrgghhh. . . .they still don't get it--Pro-American is not the same as Pro-Bush!!

I swear, this article is exactly like something my professor used to give out as examples of poor research. You're looking at propaganda, folks, read carefully.

[Luke]

And this article comes from The Guardian. What gives?

[Sarah Forrester]

I was wondering the same thing!

[David]

Since getting laid off and losing my home in Oregon, I've traveled to the virgin islands and back to florida by automobile and plane. I have not met a person yet who likes Bush. I don't trust anything that the press puts out anymore regarding statistics. Even the Bureau of Labor Statistics in U.S. government is faulty because I know plenty of people who have fallen off the statistics page...I'm just one of many. President Bush must have the worst political strategists on the planet. All the subtle innuendo about Iraqi freedom of speech and the twist now to bringing democracy and freedom to Iraqi's from all the original intent of finding WMD's is the mark of a very slithery and, in my opinion, evil administration. The only reason people dislike the administration intensely is because the truth and straightforward, unswerving honesty is impossible to get out of them. It would be quite easy to turn a large number of opponents to support Bush...I know what would do it...but do I want to see that....hell no. Enough of hell already.

[The Brain]

Hi folks.
It is very sad to see that you are the reasons from within bringing in dirt from without.
Do you not realize that you can never select who your mothers or fathers could heve been?
You are trying to sway people from thinking clearly by what you are doing, and therefore insulting the many lives that perished during the two wars that we have had so far.
Hitler would have made of you a meal for his guard Dogs, if the same people you are insulting today did not leave Oklahoma, Texas, North Dakota, Virginia, South Carolina, etc... and boarded a ship, a plane, on foot not knowing if there was any provision for them to be back home. Many died there, young 18, 19, 20 etc... old for you and me to be a peace and free today.
This is how you remember their sacrifices?
This is how you thank them ?

Are we going to wait for this demoniac act of terrosism to escalate and then mobilize the whole world again for a third round?

It saddens me to see that Americans who should support their country and their leaders are opposed to what God has ordained, because regardless of how anybody got the Job to be the President, God ordained it. But if you do not believe in God's virtue, then I guess you are on the losing streak, and whatever you do today, will certainly be revisiting you tomorrow, either in the form of rewards, or in the form of pains. Rebellion agains good, is siding with evil and we have seen all the evil we can hope to see.
George Bush was drawn into this fight. He was peacefully enjoying his Texas ranch, when those wolves (ironically God's creatures like you and me, unfortunately that we must learn to love too, because God Said so), decided to jump the country on 9-11. Obviously those of you who have ran away did not see the pains and sufferings of those left behind.
Deny your President, deny your Country and deny your Parents.
That makes you a very legitimate child does it?

Return home to your Bible, then Pray to God the Father, He is still in the miracles business, and He is still on the Throne, lest you forget.

Much love hurts nobody, hatred does.

Love you all.

the brain.

[jordan21216]

You should be ashamed of yourselves.

Tell the Kurds in Halabja who were gassed that Saddam doesn't possess WMD and that this war to bring his regine down is an unjust one.

We are in the midst of World War III and you seek to divide the coalition to whom you owe your freedom and very existence.

Wake up!

PROTEST BIG!!! SAY NO TO DUBYA!! PEOPLE HERE IN AMERICA ARE SAYING NO TO HIM TOO. WE CAN'T STAND HIM.

[Larry Good]

One undeniable effect of these protests that must be considered, is that any open political opposition to Bush encourages the insurgents in Iraq and Al Qaeda. They would consider the ouster of Bush their ultimate victory the same way the Iranians did about Carter in 1980.

[Wynne]

Well done you lot. Keep it up.

I'm afraid as a European I don't see America, on the whole, as a force for good, though it still could be if it changes its practices. Ultimately it's UK and US corporate power and greed that is increasing global inequality and insecurity, fuelling Al Qaeda, and causing these wars. Most people don't see this as bad because they still fall for the traditional economic line - but even organisations like UNCTAD are beginning to realise the flaws.

However, I don't expect many of you will agree with that yet and the important thing at the moment is to get rid of Bush, so best of luck.

Mind you, you do have your work cut out considering you tried not voting for him last time and he still got in!

[Michael]

You people are not Americans. You are ungrateful idiots. None of you are welcome in our country. The lowest thing you can do is go to another country and put down our President. The war on Terror is real. Your liberal Democrat friends have exposed us to this terrorism with it's immoral stances of Abortion, Homosexuality, and selfish interests.... Like you folks... Losers.

[scrappy]

Hello world,
I am one voice amongst the millions. Please
break everything down to the basic, simplest
level. Let's not put labels on everything. Take
Terrorism for instance. Let's not use that. Let
us say some people came to our country in 2001
and did something that was very horrible. Be-
fore we do a knee-jerk reaction, think--. We
have had plane hijackings for years and we have
realized that there is a group of people out
there doing some things that we don't completely
understand. I think it is fair to say that in
the world for many years there is a history of
things that occur that our government and mili-
tary are directly involved with. We, the public
are kept from the knowledge of many things and
one of the reasons we are kept in the dark is
because we would become upset and doubtful. We
would ask questions like WHY? What I'm getting
at is that no matter who you are or the color of
your skin, we all have many of the same common
denominators that we live by.
Come on everybody--people don't do suicide
bombings because they are brainwashed. They try
to convince you of why these things exist by
offering you information that is designed to
draw you away from the real probabilities. I am
not attempting to say that I have evidence to
prove this. It is my thoughts and they come
from common sense. I believe that if we as a
country (represented by our government and
military) have committed extreme atrocities
in the world in the past, then we have set the
stage for payback. In order for anyone to be
willing to give their life--it must have been
some pretty horrible stuff. My feeling is that
we need to really understand why someone hates
us that much. I am amazed that anyone would say
they hate our freedom. No--that's not it. That
doesn't even make sense. It is possible that
the people who attacked us were after the lead-
ership in the country. Of course they did not
have concern for any life. Why? Giving your life
to kill can mean that you are feeling that there
is no other way to retaliate, to strike back for
a percieved injustice of great degree. Saddam
was horrible in his treatment of the Iraqi cul-
ture, but there again, this is a very different
culture. He understood fear and the power that
comes with it, if you can successfully instill it.
He was able to do that and he was driven to in
still it due to his intense paranoia. He knew he
always had to be on guard. I think we have a very
narrow and tainted picture of Hussein and Iraq.
There is so much we don't know and we tend to
accept that which we are fed through the media
and that is very damaging if it isn't the true
picture. It is possible that the 2001 disaster
would have been the only one of it's kind on
our soil. We may very well now have guaranteed
for the future that we will see more of this on
our soil, thanks to Bushy Boy. None of us have
a crystal ball or the good knowledge of history
behind us. Before the war when I realized it
was coming, I had a feeling that was stronger
than it was before the 1991 war. I felt in the
center of my heart that this was WRONG. It has
caused me some trauma to have to know what we
have done to a country that did nothing to us.
It is hard to learn that for 13 years we have
placed sanctions on a counttry that did nothing
but bring extreme death and brutality to an
innocent culture. I cry inside for these people.
It is not the American people that did this.
Most of us do not really realize what our
government, and military are dishing out in the
world. Go to www.occupationwatch.org, or www.electroniciraq.net, to get a real picture of
the realities in Iraq.
My father was a military man and I know he
would have said no to this war. I think it is
saying something when I had feelings and thoughts before and during this war that now I
am reading some of those thoughts on this web-
site. I have said before I heard it by a speak-
er at the London demonstration, we were HI-
JACKED by Bush and his henchman. I then heard
this same comment by one of the activists.
I also right after the start of the war had
this feeling as i watched buildings being blown
up in Iraq and civilians being killed--I
suddenly had this sickening feeling come over
me and i did not feel proud to be an American
anymore. I did not want to be known as an
American or any part of what was happening. I
say to you that when your insides tell you some-
thing is wrong--it is wrong. I fully agree with
the slogan on this website when I saw it because
it says exactly what i experienced
PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN
SHAMED BY OUR PRESIDENT