Posted on 08/23/2006 8:27:56 AM PDT by presidio9
A majority of Americans no longer see a link between the war in Iraq and Washington's broader anti-terrorism efforts despite President George W. Bush's insistence the two are intertwined, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll released on Tuesday.
Fifty-one percent of those surveyed said the war in Iraq was separate from the U.S. government's war on terrorism. The findings were a considerable shift from polls taken in 2002 and early 2003, when a majority considered the two to be linked, The New York Times said.
As recently as June, opinion was evenly split, with 41 percent on both sides of the divide. Now only 32 percent considered Iraq to be a major part of the fight against terrorism, the newspaper said.
According to the poll, 46 percent said the Bush administration had concentrated too heavily on Iraq and not enough on terrorists elsewhere. Fifty-three percent said going to war in the first place was a mistake, up from 48 percent in July, The New York Times said.
Bush's approval ratings remained unchanged at 36 percent. His popularity has been damaged by the unpopular war in Iraq, in which the U.S. military death toll is 2,610.
As recently as Monday, Bush defended the invasion of Iraq as crucial to preventing more domestic terror attacks.
"If you believe that the job of the federal government is to secure this country, it's really important for you to understand that success in Iraq is part of securing the country," Bush said during a news conference.
The unpopularity of the Iraq war has many Republicans nervous about the party's chances in the November midterm elections in which Democrats are seeking to retake control of the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate.
The Times/CBS News poll of 1,206 adults was conducted Thursday through Monday and had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
I agree!
It amazes me that so many fail to understand and acknowledge that the MAIN battlefield in the WOT is Iraq. That is where the foreign terrorist and those who promote terrorism have focused their resources. The same foreign terrorist who would otherwise be able to devote their energies to attacking us here on our own soil.
We are fighting terrorist in Iraq with our military instead of here at home with our police. That is a good thing IMO.
I doubt this was the main intention of the Bush Administration but it has definitely been the main benefit. I only wish this administration did a better job of articulating this fact despite the constant bashing by our media.
wow long post.
The president made the mistake of not taking us for the dumb-asses we are (the rat half, anyway.)
Your view is stinkin' thinkin'. Wouldn't you imagine that the Rats, if they get an opportunity to take over Congress and there was a recession or bad economic news, they would immediately blame it on the GOP control of 16 years (or whatever it has been)? And, their sycophant's in the MSM would just comply with what the Rats said. The end result would be blame on Bush.
I thought Palin was very pro development. Are you saying she doesn't have a chance against Knowles?
Frank had a chance. Knowles will be the next gov. and the economy of Alaska will go into the dumpster. The Alaskans can be depended upon to shoot themsleves in the foot.
That is how it looks. At least one Congressman, Don Young, looks good to keep his seat.
Best post I've seen in a long time!
First, I'd like to know exactly what the question was word for word? Second, we went to war with Iraq over 12 years of 17 breached UNSCRs and specifically UNSCR 1441.
And third, the MSM has dumb-ified the masses so much that I would not be surprised at what they thought about Iraq. God only knows that the MSM hasn't reported the truth.
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