US troops want out of Iraq

US troops want out of Iraq
By Jim Lobe
Mar 2, 2006

WASHINGTON - The findings of an unprecedented poll of US troops in Iraq are certain to add to steadily growing pressures on the administration of President George W Bush to accelerate Washington's withdrawal from a country that is increasingly seen as being on the verge of all-out civil war.

Along with signs of disaffection and confusion in military ranks, recent surveys of public opinion at home have shown growing pessimism about the war, while even some of Bush's staunchest right-wing supporters, such as National Review founder William F Buckley, are calling the president's Iraq adventure a failure.

The military survey, carried out between mid-January and mid-February by Le Moyne College's Center for Peace and Global Studies and the Zogby International polling firm, found that more than half of US troops in Iraq (51%) favor a full withdrawal either "immediately" (29%) or within six months (22%).

An additional 21% told interviewers that US troops should leave Iraq between six and 12 months from now, while only 23% - or less than one in four - agreed with official Bush policy that the troops should stay "as long as they are needed".

The face-to-face survey of 944 military respondents, whose names and specific locations were withheld for security reasons, is the latest in a series of polls showing a continued erosion of support for the Iraq war, as well as for Bush himself.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HC02Ak01.html

One poll never makes it true to me.

Why didn't any other polling group do this?

Could it be because everyone already knows the troops are there without a mission (other than oil/greed)?

folks to fill in the gaps on the ground for the Army and Marines, you know we're in a world of hurt. And I can't imagine that a few month's training in urban warfare is going to be enough for someone who has spent his/her career doing a very different job. Knowing that they are now allowing felons to enlist and are making boot camp easier (even letting overweight recruits have dessert) is another indication that the military is breaking, if not broken. What is Bush thinking--that if he uses up the US troops he can outsource it to India?

posted March 1st

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=2139363