[Changleen]

Only the real retards are still behind this mal-administration.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/28/AR2006022800759.html

Polls show support for Iraq war at new low

By Matt Spetalnick
Reuters
Tuesday, February 28, 2006; 2:17 PM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - America's backing for President George W. Bush's handling of the war in Iraq has tumbled to an all-time low, and the vast majority of troops fighting there want out within the next year, new polls showed on Tuesday.

The latest surveys painted a grim picture for the U.S. president as he decried a surge of sectarian violence that has pushed Iraq to the brink of civil war and dented U.S. hopes for stability needed to pave the way for a U.S. withdrawal.

"The choice is chaos or unity," Bush said as bombs killed more than 50 people in Baghdad on Tuesday.

Growing pessimism over Iraq, along with Bush's support despite bipartisan objections for letting a state-owned Arab company take over key operations at six U.S. ports, appeared key factors driving his approval rating down to 34 percent in a CBS News poll, the lowest recorded by CBS.

The same poll that showed Bush's declining popularity had public perceptions of Bush's handling of the situation in Iraq, once one of his strong suits, falling to 30 percent from 37 percent in January.

Sixty-two percent of Americans said they thought U.S. efforts to bring order to Iraq were going badly, up from 54 percent in January, compared with 36 percent who said things were going well, a drop from 45 percent.

Raising questions about Bush's vow to keep troops in Iraq as long as they are needed, a Le Moyne College/Zogby poll showed 72 percent of U.S troops serving there think the United States should exit within the next year.

Nearly one in four said the troops should leave immediately.

A strategy often employed by the Bush administration against critics of the U.S. military presence in Iraq has been to accuse them of being unfair to troops who want to stay until they get the job done.

But opposition among Americans to the Iraq war has grown as American casualties have mounted and unrest has persisted despite a costly program to train Iraqi police and soldiers to take over security. There have been 2,295 U.S. military deaths in Iraq since the start of the war in March 2003.

BUSH SEES CHOICE FOR IRAQIS

Before leaving on a trip to India and Pakistan, Bush skirted a reporter's question whether the latest Iraqi violence following last week's bombing of a major Shi'ite mosque would affect prospects for beginning a drawdown of U.S. forces. There are 136,000 U.S. troops in Iraq.

"The people of Iraq and their leaders must make a choice," Bush said after a White House meeting with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. "The choice is a free society, or a society dictated ... by evil people who will kill innocents."

Bush spoke as bombers struck in and around Baghdad in the latest phase of Iraq's gravest crisis since a 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

Bush said he phoned seven Iraqi leaders on Saturday. "They understood the seriousness of the moment. They have made their choice, which is to work toward a unity government," he said.

Seated next to Bush, Berlusconi said he stood by his plan to withdraw all of Italy's 3,000 troops from Iraq by the end of the year.

"This plan has been agreed upon also together with our allies, and with the Iraqi government," Berlusconi, one of Bush's staunchest allies on Iraq, told reporters, saying the Italians had trained 10,000 Iraqi security officers.

pwned. He should jump now. Or choke on a Pretzl.

 

[jimmydean]

76% of all statistics are made up on th spot. -Homer J Simpson

His ratings are low, don't get me wrong. But My sister was head of polling and statistics for both CBS and the LA Times, so I never read too much into those numbers. You can skew them however you want them to look based on how you gather the info.

Doesn't change the fact I'm not happy with his job thus far as president either.

 

[Transcend]

No matter how you skew it, they are usually within 8% at most as long as the group polled is a decent cross section. Which is still pretty pathetic at this point!

 

[jimmydean]

No matter how you skew it, they are usually within 8% at most as long as the group polled is a decent cross section. Which is still pretty pathetic at this point!

I agree with that. I again, not having voted for him, yet still have to wait out the storm, am not happy with how he or congress are doing things.

 

[Transcend]

Oh well, he was dutifully elected, gotta take the good with the bad. He did manage to make half the world hate you guys though, which pretty much sucks.

 

[Changleen]

Oh well, he was dutifully elected, gotta take the good with the bad. He did manage to make half the world hate you guys though, which pretty much sucks.

More than half...

 

[ohio]

More than half...

Only if you count each one as a whole person.

 

[fluff]

I guess it's time for Bush & Co to perpetrate another fake terrorist attack on their own people.

 

[Changleen]

@ Fluff: Watch this space...

@ Ohio: LOL

 

[Transcend]

I guess it's time for Bush & Co to perpetrate another fake terrorist attack on their own people.

Got tinfoil?

 

[Echo]

I wonder who all these people are who are just now realizing that Bush is a fartknocker.

 

[fluff]

Got tinfoil?

Nope - I'm all outta smilies too.

 

[Changleen]

Fluff, you are strange.

 

[fluff]

Fluff, you are strange.

From you that's damn close to a compliment.