UN should lead Iraq re-building: US poll
WASHINGTON (AFP) - A sizeable majority of those polled in the United States believe the United Nations (news - web sites) should take over the rebuilding of war-torn Iraq (news - web sites) from the United States, according to a CBS News survey.
The poll, released Friday, also showed a growing number thought events in Iraq were slipping out Washington's control, and that people are split over whether the war was worth the loss of US life.
Sixty-nine percent said the United Nations should take the lead in rebuilding Iraq. A minority of 25 percent said the United States should remain in charge of setting up a Iraqi new government.
Forty-seven percent of those surveyed said events in Iraq are slipping out of US control compared with 42 percent who believed the US remains firmly in control.
On the question of troop fatalities, 46 percent of those questioned said the war was not worth the loss of US lives and the other costs of attacking Iraq, while an equal 46 percent said the war had been worth the losses.
The death of a US soldier Friday in a grenade attack in Iraq lifted US troop deaths from guerrilla attacks, to 65 since President George W. Bush (news - web sites) declared major combat operations over on May 1.
Over 270 US troops have been killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom, including 139 since Bush's May 1st announcement.
A majority, or 46 percent, of respondents believed the US bid to bring stability to Iraq is going well, compared with 31 percent who said the effort is going badly.
Only a third of respondents, 31 percent, wanted US soldiers pulled out of Iraq while 22 percent believed US troop numbers should be increased, and 41 percent said the numbers are sufficient.
President Bush's popularity rating held steady at 55 percent, unchanged from a prior July poll.
The poll found a "strongly partisan" response to its questions with Republicans offering a more upbeat response to the situation in Iraq compared to a more downbeat perspective from Democrats.
Researchers canvassed 930 adults nationwide between August 26 and 28. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.
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