The latest USA Today/Gallup poll asked respondents about when they believed troops should be withdrawn from Iraq given 4 options. 19% agreed they should be withdrawn immediately, 33% agreed they should be drawn by one year from now, 38% they should be withdrawn after as many years as it takens to turn control to the Iraqis, 7% said we should send more troops, and 2% were undecided.
While "take as long as needed" alone had a plurality, a 51% majority of respondents believe that troops should either be withdrawn immediately or by a year from now (I think it's safe to assume the former could agree with the latter in terms of supporting passable legislation), whereas only 45% believe they should "take as long as needed" or indeed, the U.S. should send more troops. 51% is a mandate is it not? That's what George Bush taught me.
I kid, it's obvious people are split about down the middle on the issue of withdrawal, but that's pretty significant given that the media and indeed, the U.S. Congress, treat the idea of withdrawing as something that only far-left nutcases want. It's obvious that many or most Americans agree with withdrawing from Iraq within a year (as I wrote a rather lengthy blog about here a few months ago), yet only a handful of Senators voted to support a bill that would make that policy.
As Jack Murtha has said, the American people are way ahead of the Congress on this.
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I hate to say it, but I find myself about ready to jump on the timetable bandwagon. I think it's gotten to the point where we have to assume it's just going to get worse, and act accordingly. If there's some compelling reason to keep our troops around, if they can make a difference, then maybe yes...we stretch out the timetable. But, that seems like such a remote possibility now.
Well, if the administration could make a strong case that we were ever going to achieve anything, I'd say they might have an argument to ignore the will of the people. As it is though, more and more Americans are turning against the occupation. There's certainly not a strong enough mandate to stay. For the sake of the Republican party Bush needs to start talking about bringing the troops home. More importantly, for the sake of the future of the United States we need to make the government start bringing the troops home. A lot of other things too; but that's a place to start.
The CBS poll today had 56% in favor of a timetable.
That's always been my arguments... why should they stay if they can't accomplish anything more than what they've done? At least withdrawal might give the Iraqis some incentive to get their shit together and remove the insurgents that are only interested in fighting Americans.
Post a Comment