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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jmhollen who wrote (562597)	4/9/2004 6:01:28 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

from the April 09, 2004 edition - csmonitor.com Support eroding for Bush on Iraq By Liz Marlantes \| Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor WASHINGTON - As violence and US casualties mount in Iraq, President Bush is facing a precarious political situation at home - and a potentially critical moment in the presidential campaign. Current polls suggest that public opinion on the conflict could be approaching a tipping point. While Americans have always been divided over the war, a majority has consistently held that the US made the right decision in deposing Saddam Hussein. But some polls now find a majority disapproving of Mr. Bush's handling of the situation in Iraq, and, according to a recent Pew survey, a sizable margin believes the administration does not have a plan to bring the conflict to a successful conclusion. The number of Americans calling for the troops to come home is rising, with just a bare majority now favoring keeping US troops in the region. Bush has warned all along that the mission in Iraq would be long and difficult. He has also stressed that Iraq is a central front in the war on terror, and that success there is integral to America's safety - a view that has been key to maintaining public resolve. But the president's decision to go to war has come under increasing fire in recent weeks, with officials such as former counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke charging that the effort in Iraq has actually undermined the war on terror. As the situation on the ground has deteriorated, some Republicans, such as Sen. Richard Lugar, are questioning the administration's plan for turning over power to Iraqis, while Democrats such as Sen. Ted Kennedy are comparing the situation to Vietnam. If unrest continues, public support for the mission could quickly crumble - and the political consequences for Bush could be severe. "Opinion is very fluid right now," says Carroll Doherty, editor of the Pew Research Report. "There's a sense that things are perhaps spinning out of control - and that's a very dangerous perception." csmonitor.com