Mar 13, 2008
Support For Iraq War Highest Since 2006
Politico: Americans' Feelings On War In Iraq Likely To Shape Presidential Race
-
Play CBS Video
Video
Deadly Bus Bombing In Iraq
Eight U.S. soldiers were killed in separate attacks in Iraq, the worst one-day death toll for coalition troops in months. Charlie D'Agata reports from London.
-
Photo
Awakening council member looks at the damage after a truck bomb exploded at a nearby Awakening Council checkpoint in Duluiyah, 45 miles north of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, March 12, 2008. (AP Photo/Hameed Rasheed)
-
Photo Essay
Week In Iraq Photos
A daily diary with scenes of the latest attacks and snapshots from the effort to rebuild a nation.
American public support for the military effort in Iraq has reached a high point unseen since the summer of 2006, a development that promises to reshape the political landscape.
According to late February polling conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, 53 percent of Americans - a slim majority - now believe “the U.S. will ultimately succeed in achieving its goals” in Iraq. That figure is up from 42 percent in September 2007.
The percentage of those who believe the war in Iraq is going “very well” or “fairly well” is also up, from 30 percent in February 2007 to 48 percent today.
The situation in Iraq remains fluid, of course. A surge in violence or in troop deaths could lead to rapid fluctuations in public opinion. But as the war nears its fifth year, the steady upturn in the public mood stands to alter the dynamics of races up and down the ballot.
The repercussions will be most acutely felt in the presidential contest. Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton remain committed to a staggered pullout, while Republican John McCain holds steadfast in his support for the Bush administration’s military surge.
In recent years, election results have tracked perceptions about the progress of the war in Iraq. The Democratic wave in the 2006 congressional elections correlated to a low point in the public’s view of the war. The resurgence of McCain’s candidacy also tracks the decrease in U.S. fatalities in Iraq. Monthly troop deaths have dropped by about two-thirds since the summer of 2007, according to Department of Defense records.
Democrats’ resolute support for the withdrawal of U.S. combat forces may soon position them at odds with independent voters, in particular, a constituency they need to retake the White House.
Half of self-identified independents polled now believe the United States should “keep troops in Iraq until the situation has stabilized,” according to polling data assembled by Pew at Politico’s request.
Senior foreign policy aides to Clinton and Obama said in interviews that their candidates have no intention of reconsidering their pledges to withdraw troops from Iraq, despite the waning of public opposition.
As recently as Tuesday in Harrisburg, Pa., Clinton reiterated her pledge to “end the war in Iraq and bring our troops home.” She added, as she has for months, that she would “carefully and responsibly” start the withdrawal of those troops within 60 days of taking office.
“There is no military solution,” Clinton is prone to say, a sentiment echoed by Obama. Obama has also proposed an end date for “removing all combat brigades” from Iraq.
The uptick in public support is a promising sign for Republican candidates who have been bludgeoned over the Bush administration’s war policies. But no candidate stands to gain more than McCain.
“How could Democrats possibly hand McCain a better issue than to let him run on his record of advocating a robust U.S. presence in Iraq with all the positive battlefield news that is filtering out of that country?” asked Michael O’Hanlon, a national security adviser at the Brookings Institution who has been at the center of the Iraq debate since the war’s outset.
“Thinking about where we were at the time of the congressional elections, it’s ironic that the Iraq issue could actually be the one that most favors the Republican and most other issues - including most foreign policy issues - could most favor the Democrats,” O’Hanlon added. “Yet Democrats keep wanting to fight the Iraq debate.”
The positions taken by Obama and Clinton reflect the majority sentiment in their party: Seven in 10 Democrats continue to believe the war in Iraq is going poorly. Only about a quarter of Democrats support maintaining troop levels until “the situation has stabilized,” according to Pew polling data.
Views of the war in Iraq have long varied depending upon party affiliation, unlike during the Vietnam War. Although even Democratic discontent has ebbed for the first time in more than a year - 29 percent now support keeping troops in, an increase of 8 percentage points since last summer - foreign policy advisers to both candidates dispute the idea that Democrats are in the unenviable position of disagreeing with the majority of Americans over whether the war in Iraq can succeed.
By David Paul Kuhn
Copyright 2008 POLITICO
|
We cover politics with enterprise, style, and impact. |
Video and Galleries from Politico
-
Video
McCain's Comeback Chances
-
Video
Cheney Condemns Russia
-
Video
Novel Based On Laura Bush?
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
...
- 9
- next
See all 402 CommentsOver $200 million per day
Your family''s share: over $4,000
Total: Expected to exceed $1 Trillion.
Have I left out anything?????
SIG HEIL, BUSH!!!!
sig heil, McCain????
- Hillary
By - March 6, 2008, 3:56AM
A gop president with mid 20s approval ratings.
A faltering economy due to 7 years of false GOP dogma
2 wars with no end in sight in Iraq and Afghanistan with one more in Columbia, and a possibility in Iran
$4 gas, sinking dollar, masive inflation, weak housing and job market.
A GOP candidate who is not liked by the republican base or by the conservative mouthpieces they use.
How could the democrats possibly lose?
I give you Hillary Clinton.
There is no possible way for her to have a majority of the elected delagates. There is little chance she could wind up with a +140 super delagate advantage prior to the nomination in CO. But she has commited herself to 3 more months of a campaign she will not win, cannot win except by overriding the will of the voters. She will for 3 months sling mud and raise questions on the eventual nominee for the Dems. For 3 months an estimated $120 million for both camps will be spent tearing apart the democratic candidates instead of focusing on the general election while John McCain builds support and defines himself on the cheap.
I thought the 2008 election was a lock for the dems, but Hillary would take down the party before she admits defeat.
Prepare for McCain in 2008, another 1 or 2 supreme court justices like Alitio, more war, more flawed economics, no healthcare, no progress.
Thanks Hillary.
http://tinyurl.com/yqehsy
Those of us in the reality-based community have said all along, consistently, that the whole exercise was a delaying tactic -- a case of kicking the ball down the road. Nothing has happened in Iraq to suggest we revise that view. Yes, external factors have offered the dimmer bulbs in our country a hat on which to hang their ''the war''s going great!'' hat, but the reality remains: we are looking at a lull in violence, and there''s little reason to believe it''s more permanent than that.
http://tinyurl.com/2692lf
...and all for OIL
With regard to the polls. I can believe that more people feel that the war is winnable. Problem is... no one asked them if they thought it would be a lasting peace. Is it going to be a democracy or a theocracy? Bush/Cheney goals of "democracy" in the region is laughable. Forcing democracy on a country or region is so neocon and so fascist in its origins that I am amazed that anyone even gave it any credence.
We do not get involved in politics, we just follow orders and complete our missions in the light of life or death!
God Bless our Commander in Chief !!
Which would be better for the United States?
Keep a significant number of troops in Iraq until the situation there gets better: 35%
Set a timetable for removing troops and stick to it regardless of what is going on in Iraq: 60%"
As reported by Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com
The Pew report does not jive with other known polls. Perhaps it was poorly conducted, etc., but the American people are not at all pleased with our presence in Iraq!
Stop the celebrity wathcing and cover the issues reporters! That is what you''re paid for!
Two Harvard University economists found that insurgent groups are responsive to "antiresolve" statements in the media.
"It shows that the various insurgent groups do respond to incentives and shows that a successful counter insurgency strategy should take that reality into account," Jonathan Monten, a co-author of the study and a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard''s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, told US News and World Report.
Insurgent attacks increased between 7 and 10 percent immediately after a spike in "antiresolve" statements in the media, according to the findings.
GOOD JOB DEMOCRATS, if you are for the enemy that is..
Wonder why CBS decided to run a "February" poll since we are now nearly at the middle of March?
Posted this morning on [Australian broadcasting commission] ABC national on line news
No link between Saddam and Al Qaeda: Pentagon
Posted 2 hours 21 minutes ago | Updated 1 hour 42 minutes ago
A detailed Pentagon study confirms there was no direct link between Iraqi ex-leader Saddam Hussein and the Al Qaeda network, debunking a claim US President George W Bush''s administration used to justify invading Iraq.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/justin/
"Friday, March 07, 2008
Short-term optimism about the War in Iraq is greater than long-term optimism. Thirty-eight percent (38%) expect the situation there to improve over the next six months-a two-percent increase since last month and the fourth month in a row a plurality of voters have thought so. But 32% think the situation will get worse.
Long-term, 37% believe that the U.S. mission in Iraq will be deemed a success, a four-percent increase over the last poll. But 45% say it will ultimately be judged a failure. Despite this negative prognosis, a plurality of 43% of likely voters say the U.S. is safer today than before 9/11.
President Bush continues to get bad marks for the War in Iraq, with 46% saying he"s doing a Poor job. Just 33% say he"s doing a Good or an Excellent job handling the situation in Iraq.
A separate tracking survey shows that most Americans want troops to come home from Iraq within the next year."
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/mood_of_america/war_on_terror/war_on_terror_update
Insurgents in Iraq get a boost from coverage in the news media that shows support for troop withdrawals from the war torn country, according to a study.
Two Harvard University economists found that insurgent groups are responsive to "antiresolve" statements in the media.
"It shows that the various insurgent groups do respond to incentives and shows that a successful counter insurgency strategy should take that reality into account," Jonathan Monten, a co-author of the study and a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard''''s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, told US News and World Report.
Insurgent attacks increased between 7 and 10 percent immediately after a spike in "antiresolve" statements in the media, according to the findings.
GOOD JOB DEMOCRATS, if you are for the enemy that is..
From the article:
%u201CThinking about where we were at the time of the congressional elections, it%u2019s ironic that the Iraq issue could actually be the one that most favors the Republican..."
I think that this might be one of the main reasons that our corporate/fascist controlled Western media, like CBS News, have been cheer leading the illegal and shameful war against Iraq again, more recently.
Even Nature"s mother birds have enough sense to push the young out of the nest when it"s time.
Otherwise they"ll be there indefinitely.
STOP WASTING OUR $$$$$$$$$$
NOW !
NOW!!!
NOW!!!! NOW!!!!!
KBR ~NO TAX SCAB CO !!!!!
Halliburton !!! OWNER of KBR SCABS TAX EVADER !!!!!!
STOP THE MADNESS !!!!!!!!!!!!
GOP~ EVIL~ CORRUPT~GREEDY ~ GOP~PERVERTED!GOP~LIES
And 53% of the public believes we''ll win this war? When, in another decade? Or in 100 years, as McCain would have us stay there?
By - March 6, 2008, 3:56AM
A gop president with mid 20s approval ratings.
A faltering economy due to 7 years of false GOP dogma
2 wars with no end in sight in Iraq and Afghanistan with one more in Columbia, and a possibility in Iran
$4 gas, sinking dollar, masive inflation, weak housing and job market.
A GOP candidate who is not liked by the republican base or by the conservative mouthpieces they use.
How could the democrats possibly lose?
I give you Hillary Clinton.
There is no possible way for her to have a majority of the elected delagates. There is little chance she could wind up with a +140 super delagate advantage prior to the nomination in CO. But she has commited herself to 3 more months of a campaign she will not win, cannot win except by overriding the will of the voters. She will for 3 months sling mud and raise questions on the eventual nominee for the Dems. For 3 months an estimated $120 million for both camps will be spent tearing apart the democratic candidates instead of focusing on the general election while John McCain builds support and defines himself on the cheap.
I thought the 2008 election was a lock for the dems, but Hillary would take down the party before she admits defeat.
Prepare for McCain in 2008, another 1 or 2 supreme court justices like Alitio, more war, more flawed economics, no healthcare, no progress.
Thanks Hillary.
http://tinyurl.com/yqehsy
nn
donbl1,
Re: "Wonder why CBS decided to run a "February" poll since we are now nearly at the middle of March?"
They have been getting a lot of criticism about neglecting to report about how great and free things are there now.
I think that is why they decided to report this poll, rather than report on the criminal nature of the invasion, the various atrocities regularly committed against the Iraqis by U.S. agents, the destruction, the poverty, and so forth.
I wish I had whatever drugs you''re on.
The "surge" was intended to stall long enough for Americans to be distracted by something else, like elections, or a collapsing economy.
This poll would seem to indicate that the surge "worked" to some degree, and is testament as to the depth of selfishness and stupidity of too many Americans.
Too bad.
%u201CWhy we stand for immediate withdrawal of all US troops from Iraq%u201D
%u201CTHE U.S. occupation of Iraq has not liberated the Iraqi people, but has made life worse for most Iraqis.%u201D
%u201CTens of thousands of U.S. service people have been killed or maimed, and hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis have lost their lives as a result of the U.S. invasion in 2003, the ongoing occupation, and the violence unleashed by them.%u201D
%u201CIraq''s infrastructure has been destroyed, and U.S. plans for reconstruction abandoned. There is less electricity, less clean drinking water, and more unemployment today than before the U.S. invasion.%u201D
%u201CAll of the justifications initially provided by the U.S. for waging war on Iraq have been exposed as lies; the real reasons for the invasion %u2014 to control Iraq''s oil reserves and to increase U.S. strategic influence in the region %u2014 now stand revealed.%u201D
%u201CThe Bush administration has insisted again and again that stability, democracy, and prosperity are around the next bend in the road%u2026But the U.S. has deliberately stoked sectarian divisions in its ongoing attempt to install a U.S.-friendly regime, thus driving Iraq towards civil war.%u201D
%u201CWe call on the U.S. to get out of Iraq %u2014 not in six months, not in a year, but now.%u201D
www.ipetitions.com/petition/OutNow
From the last known journalist at CBS News-
"Cronkite: Why our troops must leave Iraq"
"The American people no longer support the war in Iraq. The war is being carried on by a stubborn president who, like Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon during the Vietnam War, does not want to lose. But from the beginning this has been an ill-considered and poorly prosecuted war that, like the Vietnam War, has diminished respect for America. We believe Mr. Bush would like to drag the war on long enough to hand it off to another president."
"The war in Iraq reminds us of the tragedy of the Vietnam War. Both wars began with false assertions by the president to the American people and the Congress. Like Vietnam, the Iraq War has introduced a new vocabulary: "shock and awe," "mission accomplished," "the surge." Like Vietnam, we have destroyed cities in order to save them. It is not a strategy for success."
"The Bush administration has attempted to forestall ending the war by putting in more troops, but more troops will not solve the problem. We have lost the hearts and minds of most of the Iraqi people, and victory no longer seems to be even a remote possibility. It is time to end our occupation of Iraq, and bring our troops home."
www.metrowestdailynews.com/opinion/x1211480742
Cronkite strongly influenced the politics and outcome of the Vietnam War. In 1968 the Communist forces in South Vietnam, facing defeat, staged massive kamikaze attacks on U.S. positions in Saigon and elsewhere during the Chinese New Year celebration called Tet. This suicidal "Tet Offensive" was a military disaster that cost the lives of 100 Communist fighters for every American killed. But as a top Communist general said years later on the Public Broadcasting Service documentary series Vietnam, those on the left in the American press turned this Marxist military defeat into a political victory for the Communist side.
"It seems now more certain than ever," Walter Cronkite told his audience in a de facto editorial, "that the bloody experience of Vietnam is a stalemate" and that the war was "unwinnable." Cronkite''s statement and call for U.S. withdrawal helped turn public opinion against the war. It also demoralized American troops and Democratic President Lyndon Johnson, who was said to have declared that losing Cronkite%u2019s support meant he had lost the backing of Middle America.
Walter speaks and things change?
Posted by mike91953 at 09:09 PM : Mar 13, 2008
The goal is to give Haliburton as many no-bid contracts as possible. Haliburton believes that it will do better things with our tax dollars than our government will, so it believes it is entitled to funnel our money into its coffers by any means possible.
AJMarine1,
"It seems now more certain than ever," Walter Cronkite told his audience in a de facto editorial, "that the bloody experience of Vietnam is a stalemate" and that the war was "unwinnable." Cronkite''''s statement and call for U.S. withdrawal helped turn public opinion against the war. It also demoralized American troops and Democratic President Lyndon Johnson, who was said to have declared that losing Cronkite%u2019s support meant he had lost the backing of Middle America."
A real American hero, in my opinion.
###
"An American colonel on diplomatic duty in Hanoi
remarked to his North Vietnamese counterpart, ''You know you never defeated us on the battlefield.''
"The North Vietnamese General paused and then responded, ''That may be so, but is also irrelevant.''"
last dollar we have (or could borrow) at it and with
such p-poor results that no end is yet in sight. 6
long, sloggin'' years and............nuttin'' !
Profiteers are just milkin'' it. Thank God
Himself that we haven''t lost good young people to
this "war" at the rate of other "wars" in our
history. He will be the ultimate Judge of this mess.
Meantime.....the fangs are sunk in to the hilt. The
poison can''t be sucked out nor the wound treated
until they''re pried loose. OBAMA ''08 - YES HE CAN!
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
...
- 9
- next
See all 402 Comments