More Americans Believe Iraq War Hurts Fight Against Terrorism
Abid Aslam, OneWorld USFri Jul 22,10:45 AM ET
WASHINGTON, D.C., Jul 22 (OneWorld) - Nearly half of Americans say the war in Iraq has hurt what the White House calls its ''war on terror''--the highest percentage since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003--according to a major new poll released Thursday in the immediate aftermath of the latest bomb attacks in London.
The survey, by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, also showed that 49 percent of respondents now believe that Washington should set a timetable for withdrawing from Iraq. President George W. Bush opposes such a move, as did 45 percent of the 1,502 American adults surveyed July 13-17.
Pew released the survey after the U.S. House of Representatives approved Wednesday a non-binding resolution opposing the early withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and declaring that setting a date for a troop pullout would encourage terrorists to ratchet up their operations.
The Pew findings were broadly consistent with those of a Gallup poll released before the fatal July 7 London bombings, suggesting that those incidents have had no significant impact on U.S. public opinion. No one was killed in yesterday's attacks.
Forty-five percent of Americans believe that the war in Iraq has increased the chances of terrorist attacks in the United States, up from 36 percent last October, the Pew survey said.
By contrast, 22 percent of citizens said they agreed with Bush that the Iraq war has lessened the chances of terrorist attacks on home soil.
A new low of 27 percent of the public--and only 23 percent of political independents--said they believe that Bush has a plan for bringing the Iraq war to a successful end. However, 64 percent said they now believe that Bush has no clear plan.
Likewise, they voiced doubts about Bush's handling of terrorism, long his strong suit among voters.
Since January, public confidence in Bush's handling of the war on terror has fallen from a majority of 62 percent to a plurality of 49 percent, according to the Pew survey.
Nevertheless, perceptions of how the war is going have held stable over the past year.
Fifty-two percent of respondents said they believe the war is going ''very'' or ''fairly'' well, compared to 44 percent who said it is going ''not too well'' or ''not well at all.''
Additionally, 49 percent said Washington was right in deciding to go to war, compared to 44 percent who believed it was wrong. ''Since last July, support for the decision to go to war has ranged from 46 percent to 53 percent,'' the Pew study said.
It found that 60 percent of Americans said the United States eventually would establish a stable government in Iraq but that 33 percent said that it would not.
On whether and when to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq, a slim majority said American forces should remain until the situation in Iraq has stabilized. Forty-three percent said the troops should be brought home as soon as possible.
Support for suicide bombings, Islamist violence, and Osama bin Laden was falling in Muslim countries and in Western countries with large Muslim minorities, the Pew center said in a separate survey released earlier this month.
In that poll, conducted among some 17,000 people in 17 countries before the fatal July 7 London bombings, nearly three-fourths of Moroccans and roughly half of Pakistanis, Turks, and Indonesians said Islamic extremism was a threat to their own countries.
Opinions differed over the causes of terrorism, with sizeable minorities pointing to poverty, joblessness, and a lack of education. In Jordan and Lebanon, pluralities said U.S. policies were the strongest determining factor.
The earlier survey found that in Turkey, Morocco, and Indonesia 15 percent or fewer said that suicide bombings and violence against civilians ''in defense of Islam'' could be justified. In Morocco, the figure had fallen from 40 percent last year.
Only one in four Pakistanis said that suicide bombings could be justified, a sharp drop from 41 percent last year.
The one notable exception to the trend was Jordan, where 57 percent said suicide bombings and violence could be justified.
Opinion also was sharply divided on suicide bombings in Iraq. Nearly half of Lebanese and Jordanians surveyed and 56 percent of Moroccans said suicide bombings against westerners in Iraq were justifiable. Majorities in Turkey, Pakistan, and Indonesia disagreed, however.
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