[Marxism] Support for war hits new low

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

LA Times, January 19, 2005      
THE TIMES POLL
Support for War in Iraq Hits New Low
        
By Doyle McManus, Times Staff Writer

WASHINGTON ? Support for the war in Iraq has continued to erode, but most 
Americans still are inclined to give the Bush administration some time to 
try to stabilize the country before it withdraws U.S. troops, the Los 
Angeles Times Poll has found.

The poll, conducted Saturday through Monday, found that the percentage of 
Americans who believed the situation in Iraq was "worth going to war over" 
had sunk to a new low of 39%. When the same question was asked in a similar 
poll in October, 44% said it had been worth going to war.

But when asked whether the United States should begin withdrawing troops 
after Iraq's election Jan. 30, 52% said the administration should wait to 
see what the new Iraqi government wanted. More than a third, 37%, said the 
United States should begin drawing down at least some of its troop strength.

Americans are almost evenly divided over how long U.S. forces should stay 
in Iraq, the poll found: 47% said they would like to see most of the troops 
out within a year, while 49% say they could support a longer deployment ? 
including 37% who say the troops should remain "as long as it takes" to 
secure and stabilize the country.

The results suggest that while Americans have grown more pessimistic about 
the chances for success in Iraq, most are willing to give President Bush 
some time to try to turn the operation into a success.

"We are seeing lower support for the war, but I would have expected it to 
be even lower ? given that the main rationale for the war ? the weapons of 
mass destruction ? turned out not to be there," said John Mueller, a 
political scientist at Ohio State University who is an authority on wartime 
public opinion.

Mueller noted that support for the war had been falling gradually since the 
United States invaded Iraq in March 2003, but that the erosion had not 
produced a majority in favor of early troop withdrawals.

"Support for this war is now lower than support for the Vietnam War was at 
the Tet offensive," Mueller said, citing the 1968 battles that were a 
turning point in U.S. public opinion then. "But in Vietnam [after Tet], the 
war continued for several years, and many people continued to support it 
through enormous casualties."

In Iraq, he noted, the number of U.S. casualties has been far lower than in 
Vietnam, a probable reason that public pressure for withdrawal has not 
mounted higher.

On the other hand, public support for increasing U.S. troop strength in 
Iraq ? a proposal Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and several other members of 
Congress have made ? is negligible, the poll found. Only 4% of respondents 
said they would favor increasing American forces after the Iraqi election.

full: 
<http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-iraqpoll19jan19,0,7592168.story?coll=la-home-headlines>

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