Other Iraq war news

[Balta1701]

So, there are a few other items of note on the Iraq war today other than the death of Saddam.

 

The Military Times news does a yearly poll of about 6000 active service members. Their opinions on the Iraq war and future strategy seem noteworthy to me.

 

The American military -- once a staunch supporter of President Bush and the Iraq war -- has grown increasingly pessimistic about chances for victory, according to the 2006 Military Times Poll.

 

For the first time, more troops disapprove of the president's handling of the war than approve of it. Barely one-third of service members approve of the way the president is handling the war.

 

When the military was feeling most optimistic about the war -- in 2004 -- 83 percent of poll respondents thought success in Iraq was likely. This year, that number has shrunk to 50 percent.

 

Only 35 percent of the military members polled this year said they approve of the way President Bush is handling the war, while 42 percent said they disapproved. The president's approval rating among the military is only slightly higher than for the population as a whole. In 2004, when his popularity peaked, 63 percent of the military approved of Bush's handling of the war. While approval of the president's war leadership has slumped, his overall approval remains high among the military.

 

Just as telling, in this year's poll only 41 percent of the military said the U.S. should have gone to war in Iraq in the first place, down from 65 percent in 2003.

Furthermore, the poll asked respondents how many troops they believed should be serving in Iraq, and whether they believed there should be an increase in forces.

We currently have 145,000 troops in Iraq and Kuwait. How many troops do you think we should have there?

Zero: 13%

0-50,000: 7%

50,000-144,000: 6%

145,000: 13%

146,000-200,000: 22%

200,000+: 16%

No opinion/Don't know: 23%

38% of respondents therefore support the "Surge" option which Mr. Bush seems ready to implement in January. Meanwhile, 39%, a statistically identical number even in this large of a sample, believe there should be the same number of troops as now or fewer. Also, nearly 3/4 of respondents believe the U.S. military is stretched too thin to be effective.

 

And, on the more somber part, the U.S. has now suffered roughly 109 deaths thus far in the month of December. Link. This is the highest total of any month of 2006, and perhaps more worrisome, it places the October-December 2006 period as the deadliest 3 month block for U.S. forces in Iraq since the beginning of the invasion.

 

The U.S. will also suffer its 3000th military death in Iraq very soon, as there have been an estimated 2998 American soldiers killed in that country since the beginning of the invasion thus far.