Iraq: Four Years Later
Polls: War Has Been Longer, Bloodier Than Americans Expected; Most Favor Troop Pullout
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Play CBS Video Video Bush: Iraq Can Still Be Won On the fourth anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq war, President Bush insisted that victory could still be achieved. "The fight is difficult but it can be won," he said. Jim Axelrod reports.
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Video Lessons From Abu Ghraib Ret. Army Captain Andrew Exum weighs in on the prison abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib and remembers his tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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Video Containing Iraq's Hotspots More than half of all insurgent attacks have taken place in Baghdad and Anbar Province. As a result, the U.S. troop buildup has been primarily focused on those two areas. Allen Pizzey reports.
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A U.S. army vehicle burns in an eastern suburb of Baghdad, Iraq, March 18, 2007, after an apparent attack by insurgents. (AP/APTN/Pool)
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U.S. Army soldiers of the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, out of Fort Lewis, Washington, on patrol in Baqouba, Iraq, March 15, 2007. (AP Photo/U.S. Army)
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Anti-war demonstrators in Bangor, Maine, sing protest songs and carry signs including "Patriot For Peace" and "Support The Troops - Impeach Bush" as they form a human peace sign in the snow, March 18, 2007. (AP)
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Iraqi National Police recruits practice their search techniques at the Joint Security Station in the Hurriyah neighborhood of Baghdad, Iraq, March 14, 2007. (AP)
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Celeste Zappala - whose son, Army Sgt. Sherwood Baker, was killed by an explosion in Baghdad - listens to a speaker at an Iraq war anniversary vigil in Philadelphia, March 18, 2007. (AP)
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Interactive Iraq: 4 Years Later The conflict wears on as the nation struggles to rebuild.
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Photo Essay Anniversary Protests Demonstrations around the world as the war in Iraq enters its fifth year.
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Interactive American Heroes Profiles of U.S. soldiers who've died in Iraq, a look at the war's toll and pictures of mourning.
Americans did not expect the war to last this long, nor did they think it would cost as many lives as it has.
President Bush continues to receive low ratings on his handling of Iraq and most Americans now oppose his decision to send more troops there. Democrats, meanwhile, are challenging Mr. Bush's Iraq policy, winning House committee approval this week for a troop withdrawal deadline of Sept. 1, 2008, but suffering defeat in the Senate on a separate plan to end the war.
More than half the public now believes the U.S. will not succeed in Iraq. A February poll found that just 20 percent think there's something the U.S. can do to stop the fighting between Iraqis, while 70 percent think there's not much the U.S. can do about it.
WILL THE U.S. SUCCEED IN IRAQ?
3/2007
Very likely
11%Somewhat likely
34%Not very/at all likely
53%Nearly seven in ten Americans now say things are going badly for the U.S. in Iraq; just 29 percent say things are going well. That's a complete reversal from May 2003, two months into the war, when more than seven in 10 thought things in Iraq were going well. Assessments remained positive until shortly after Saddam Hussein was captured in December 2003. Since then, however, views have become gloomier.
The war has been longer and bloodier than Americans expected. At the start of the war, Americans thought it would be a short conflict with fewer than 1,000 fatalities. Since then, over 3,200 U.S. troops have died and more than 24,000 have been wounded.
Asked in March 2003 how many U.S. troops they thought would die in the war, 66 percent of Americans said less than 1,000. Just 22 percent thought more than 1,000 U.S. soldiers would be killed.
EXPECTATIONS FOR U.S. LOSS OF LIFE
3/20-3/24/2003
Less than 1,000
66%1,000-5,000
16%More than that
6%Tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians have also been killed in the war, but precise figures are difficult to come by. Estimates range from more than 50,000 into the hundreds of thousands, the Associated Press says. The U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq reports more than 34,000 deaths in 2006 alone.
In April 2003, just weeks after the fall of Baghdad, seven in 10 Americans thought U.S. troops would be in Iraq for two years or less. Only 27 percent thought they'd be there longer than two years.
Now, Americans indicate they're ready for the troops to start coming home. Fifty-six percent want to decrease U.S. troop levels or remove all U.S. forces from Iraq. Nearly six in ten oppose President Bush's decision to deploy more than 20,000 additional troops to Iraq.
U.S. TROOP LEVELS IN IRAQ SHOULD…
3/2007
Increase
22%Keep the same number
17%Decrease
28%Remove all troops
28%Americans give the president some leeway, however. More than half think it will take at six months to determine if the troop increase is working.
Despite the political arguments that have surrounded the troop and funding decisions, more than seven in ten Americans say one can oppose the war and still support U.S. troops.
The American people continue to give Mr. Bush low marks for his leadership on Iraq. His current approval rating is 28 percent; he has not reached the 30 percent mark since October 2006.
That's a far cry from April 2003, after the fall of Baghdad, when Mr. Bush enjoyed a high of 79 percent approval. But as U.S. troops continued to suffer casualties, even after the president's declaration that major combat had ended, more Americans began to disapprove of Mr. Bush's handling of the war. There was a brief surge in support following Saddam's capture, but more Americans have disapproved than approved of the president's handing of the war since March 2004.
Mr. Bush has also been hurt by the recent reports of shoddy treatment of veterans at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Three in four Americans do not think the Bush administration has done enough to care for these wounded soldiers.
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
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See all 227 Commentsthe hispanic vote by going after Gonzales.
Many I have talked to are very protective of
him. They should drop the matter or we will
suffer consequences and voters.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070320004302.w8d2wm3v&show_article=1
toldyouso21
Very well put ,good explanation .
We are still fighting insurgents in Baghdad during all these 4 years. How long it will take to flush them out of Iraq and take control of the country?
Posted by diplomacy3 at 05:46 PM : Mar 19, 2007
Answer your own question: How long would you resist and continue to rebel against strangers who invaded America? Even if they claim they are "freeing you" from the "Republican Monsters", deposed Bush and said they were bringing you a better form of government? At what point should you just roll over and accept the invaders? At what point would you forgive them for bombing this country, maybe killing or torturing your loved ones, destroying your society and culture and forcing you to have their type of government? When do you lay down your love and loyalty for your own sovereignty and accept the mastery of those who came uninvited to remake your world?
When you can answer that, you have the answer to how long we will be fighting resistance in Iraq.
Either that, or we kill all men of fighting age and maybe even all boys and first borns to ensure no one is left to hate us for what we did to them.
We are still fighting insurgents in Baghdad during all these 4 years. How long it will take to flush them out of Iraq and take control of the country?
Posted by Sprvtr at 11:53 AM : Mar 19, 2007
How is it that the invaders and instigators of this horrorible war (that would be the US) is soooo perverted that we continually pretend we are saviours and heros of the Iraqi people instead of admitting and accepting our true role?
we did start it and we made a huge mess of it and many people who had managed to survive Saddam all those years are now dead to the war we started. But in the middle of our rampage, we put these rusted coat hangers over our heads and declare them halos. It is as if we were that dad who stabbed his 11 month old baby and threw it out of the window, now showing up--insisting he and only he can perform CPR to save the kid. Who in their right mind buys the "saviour theory" except the pscho trying to emotionally masturb@te their own conscience?
by Japan. We fought on two fronts, on two oceans, on each side of our country, defeated them both in four years.
Why, are we in Iraq?
SearingTruth
It is for nothing, the Iraqi people don't want our freedom! The best way to support our troops is to bring them home or at least redeploy to give them a much needed break and turn it over to the Iraqi's! The Iraqi government wants the U.S. to stay, the Iraqi people don't! I support our troops, the President and our Government as a whole, I'm very patriotic trust me. The Iraqi's won't appreciate the U.S. sacrifice when this is over, the U.S. sacrifice is not appreciated now, so in that context this is for nothing! Remember greeted as liberators? Those flowers thrown at our troops? The only flowers being thrown are road side bombs!
The "war on terror" is more accurately called "war on US taxpayers and the US Constitution."
It is painfully clear the "war on terror" is an excuse for politicians to loot the US treasury on behalf of themselves and their cronies, and restrict Constitutional rights, than it does "protecting Americans."
George Bush (and many others) should be impeached and indicted for war crimes. And many other crimes including conspiracy to commit murder, theft, and fraud.
Sorry.
The time period for saving this FIASCO with pickup truck bumper sticker slogans expired at least two years ago.
http://www.aipac.org/forms/join_aipacClubs.htm
Alexander, Lamar- (R - TN)
Allard, Wayne- (R - CO)
Chambliss, Saxby- (R - GA)
Cochran, Thad- (R - MS)
Coleman, Norm- (R - MN)
Collins, Susan M.- (R - ME)
Cornyn, John- (R - TX)
Craig, Larry E.- (R - ID)
Dole, Elizabeth- (R - NC)
Enzi, Michael B.- (R - WY)
Graham, Lindsey- (R - SC)
Hagel, Chuck- (R - NE)
Inhofe, James M.- (R - OK)
McConnell, Mitch- (R - KY)
Roberts, Pat- (R - KS)
Sessions, Jeff- (R - AL)
Smith, Gordon H.- (R - OR)
Stevens, Ted- (R - AK)
Sununu, John E.- (R - NH)
Warner, John- (R - VA)
If you think Americas sacrifice is worth it contact your ELECTED OFFICIAL and tell them http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/
The House Speakers email address: AmericanVoices@mail.house.gov
info@gop.com Here is the Republican Party email address too!
democraticparty@democrats.org Here is the Democratic Party email address also!
SearingTruth
"Some judged them misguided, or unusually patriotic, but in truth they were just evil."
SearingTruth
"And for the voiceless, it was a march, to death."
SearingTruth
A Future of the Brave - www.searingtruth.com
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