War fatigue

Iraq may have fallen from the headlines in the last weeks – though the situation there is as grim as ever – but a new poll brings a glimmer of hope:

Sixty percent of Americans oppose the U.S. war in Iraq, the highest number since polling on the subject began with the commencement of the war in March 2003, according to poll results and trends released Wednesday.

And a majority of poll respondents said they would support the withdrawal of at least some U.S. troops by the end of the year, according to results from the Opinion Research Corporation poll conducted last week on behalf of CNN. The corporation polled 1,047 adult Americans by telephone.

According to trends, the number of poll respondents who said they did not support the Iraq war has steadily risen as the war stretched into a second and then a third year. In the most recent poll, 36 percent said they were in favour of the war – half of the peak of 72 percent who said they were in favour of the war as it began.

While some armchair generals still dream about endless war in the Middle East, a majority of Americans now realise the Bush administration has led the country into a war without end. The insurgency will only continue to grow and more foreign troop and Iraqis will die. And for what?

Text and images ©2024 Antony Loewenstein. All rights reserved.

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