Survey Shows Skepticism About Iraq (Not key to terrorism fight-Milbank)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A857-2003Nov4.html

Only one in seven Americans agrees with President Bush's assertion that the conflict in Iraq is the most important fight in the war on terrorism, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Since Sept. 7, when Bush addressed the nation to build support for the war in Iraq, he and his aides have described Iraq as "the central front" in the war on terrorism. "We will fight this war against terror until it is won," Bush said recently in one typical speech. "We are fighting on many fronts. Iraq is now the central front."

But the poll found that, although 61 percent of the respondents believe Iraq is part of the war on terrorism, just 14 percent think it is the "most important" part.

This doubt -- shared by some experts in military strategy -- poses a potential problem for Bush, because it indicates that a large majority of Americans disagrees with his main argument for justifying the continuing occupation of Iraq, which has proven costlier and bloodier than was generally predicted before the war. Experts in public opinion say it may explain why support for Bush's policies on Iraq has sagged.

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Rep. Jim Leach (R-Iowa) yesterday criticized the administration's thinking about Iraq as "one of the most misguided assumptions in the history of United States strategic thinking"