Speaking at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy cautioned Americans against falling into another Vietnam and called for a phased-withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. Republicans and conservative talk radio instantly labeled Kennedy an irresponsible liberal extremist out of touch with America; but the numbers tell a different story. Consider the following:
"We must recognize what a large and growing number of Iraqis now believe. The war in Iraq has become a war against the American occupation. We have reached the point that a prolonged American military presence in Iraq is no longer productive for either Iraq or the United States. The U.S. military presence has become part of the problem, not part of the solution."
This is true. According to an April, 2004 poll, "only a third of the Iraqi people now believe that the American-led occupation of their country is doing more good than harm."
"Americans are rightly concerned about why our 157,000 soldiers are there — when they will come home — and how our policy could have gone so wrong...The President bungled the pre-war diplomacy on Iraq and wounded our alliances."
A CBS News/New York Times Poll taken from Jan. 14-18 showed that 55% of Americans disapprove of Bush's handling of the situation in Iraq and 49% now say that America should have staid out of Iraq.
"No matter how many times the Administration denies it, there is no question they misled the nation and led us into a quagmire in Iraq. President Bush rushed to war on the basis of trumped up intelligence and a reckless argument that Iraq was a critical arena in the global war on terror, that somehow it was more important to start a war with Iraq than to finish the war in Afghanistan and capture Osama bin Laden, and that somehow the danger was so urgent that the U.N. weapons inspectors could not be allowed time to complete their search for weapons of mass destruction."
Most Americans agree with Kennedy. The CBS/NYTimes Poll also found that 59% of the public now believes that the Bush administration was either hiding elements or mostly lying about the existence of weapons of mass destruction.
"As a result of our actions in Iraq, our respect and credibility around the world have reached all-time lows."
According to a July 2004 Pew Research Center for the People & and the Press poll "two-thirds (67%) say the U.S. is less respected, as opposed to just 20% who say the U.S. retains as much respect around the world as in the past."
Article comments
1 - russ
Leave it to a stupid, spineless liberal to give a drunken woman killer credit for his seditious speech...
Doesn't anyone remember how this soak stumbled on and on during the Rice hearings, mentioning items like water torture?
If anyone knows anything at all about water torture, the gin soaked bastard Kennedy does...
After what does this gin soaked bastard know about war?
Does anyone remember that the gin soaked bastard along with the other seditious liberal swine in this country whined and yammered mindlessly during the Vietnam days?
What happened then?
Why the slaughter of millions of Vietnamese and Cambodians of course...
Can you say Pol Pot?
Yes, the seditious liberals in this country have the blood of millions on their collective hands...
2 - NancyGail
Can you say Iraq fiasco? We went in because Bush wanted to, period. Let's se how long the troops will stay once elections are over.
3 - Dave Nalle
And by all means let's base policy on public opinion polls. That's worked so well in the past.
Also, the poll you cite from Iraq is 9 month old. This poll from Al Sabaah is less than a month old:
Will the security problems cause you to?
Not come out and vote the day of elections = 18.3%
Come out and vote the day of elections = 78.3%
No opinion = 3.4%
Do you support the Iraqi Government having its own official newspaper?
Yes = 67.7%
No = 30.9%
Do Not know = 1.4%?
Do you support military action against the terrorists?
Yes = 87.7 %
No = 11.1%
Don’t Know = 1.2%
Dave
4 - Scott
That poll is pointless Dave, at least to this discussion.
5 - Dave Nalle
Sorry, I'll work on getting more relevant ones. One of the major poll services ought to be over there right now getting some meaningful numbers on the eve of the election, but nothing so far.
Dave
6 - wally bangs
Good old Ted. He knows a thing or two about cutting and running now doesn't he?
7 - Mark Edward Manning
I've said it before, I'll say it again: Americans themselves will be responsible for a Vietnam-like situation in Iraq if they will it. If they doubt the war, they doubt our troops. If they doubt our troops, they contribute in a big way to low troop morale. And if we contribute to low troop morale, then we are to blame with our high-and-mighty opposition.
America was to blame for our own loss in Vietnam, and we will be to blame for any screw-ups in Iraq largely because our troops don't feel they've got any moral support.