Questions grow over when soldiers will come home
By Guy Dinmore in Washington
Published: April 23 2004 19:49 | Last Updated: April 23 2004 19:49
Two images of American troops returning home from Iraq dominated US media this week: carnival celebrations at Fort Hood, Texas, for the 4th Infantry Division, which nabbed Saddam Hussein; and the first pictures provided by the Pentagon since the war began of flag-draped coffins.
Those pictures, from Dover air force base, Delaware, where the caskets arrive, were obtained by a First Amendment activist through a freedom of information act request, and posted on the internet at www.thememoryhole.org.
Since 1991, the Pentagon has prohibited news media from covering the arrival of war dead, saying it wants to protect their dignity and the privacy of grieving families.
Even so, spiralling violence and the Pentagon's U-turn over troop numbers are fuelling questions over how long American soldiers will have to stay.
Nancy Lessin, one soldier's mother, co-founded Military Families Speak Out with her husband in November 2002 to stop the looming war. Since then 1,500 other military families have joined their Bring Them Home Now campaign.
"We are flooded with e-mails from military families," she told the FT. "We certainly think there's a growing segment of the American population that sees this situation going downhill as long as there is a military occupation."
President George W. Bush may dismiss the Vietnam quagmire analogy, but ordinary Americans do not, Mrs Lessin insists. "Bush's statement that no one is dying in vain in Iraq is exactly what we said in Vietnam."
Opinion polls reflect complicated sentiments. A survey this month by the Pew Research Center showed 57 per cent of Americans believed the decision to invade Iraq was correct.
But the numbers calling for an immediate return of troops had risen to 44 per cent, from 32 per cent six months earlier. Half said troops should stay until a stable government was established.
The University of Pennsylvania found this month that a slim majority - 51 per cent - believed it had not been worth going to war, while 43 per cent said it was.
That poll showed 36 per cent wanted the troops home as soon as possible; 57 per cent said that they should wait for a stable government.
Karlyn Bowman, polling expert at the American Enterprise Institute, concedes Americans are anxious, but she also notes that "an awful lot of people" want to send more troops. Historically, the immediate response of Americans to events such as the fierce battles in Falluja is "not to retreat but to get tough", she says.
A Gallup/CNN/USA Today poll in mid-April, after Falluja erupted, showed that 33 per cent of Americans wanted more troops in Iraq - a sharp increase from January's 11 per cent.
But those demanding immediate withdrawal of troops also jumped, to 21 from 16 per cent.
Interestingly, mounting unhappiness over Iraq could benefit Mr Bush in the November election. Some pundits suggest that antiwar voters might abandon Senator John Kerry, the Democratic challenger whose position on Iraq is fundamentally the same, and back Ralph Nader, the independent.
This week, Mr Nader said the US should hand over security to "neutral countries" under UN auspices and get out. Some retired military figures also suggest it is time to start thinking of getting out. "I'm not in that camp yet [of immediate withdrawal]," said retired Lt Gen William Odom, former head of the National Security Agency. "But I can see a fairly strong case growing for it."
Pollsters point out a need for perspective. Fifty-eight per cent of Pew's respondents said the price of petrol was the news item they followed most closely.
news.ft.com |
