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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Win Smith who wrote (234766)	6/30/2007 8:51:54 PM
From: Harvey Allen	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

(CBS) A CBS News poll shows Americans are increasingly dissatisfied with the Iraq war, President Bush and the Congress, as well as the overall direction of the country. More Americans than ever before, 77 percent, say the war is going badly, up from 66 percent just two months ago. Nearly half, 47 percent, say it's going very badly. While the springtime surge in U.S. troops to Iraq is now complete, more Americans than ever are calling for U.S. forces to withdraw. Sixty-six percent say the number of U.S. troops in Iraq should be decreased, including 40 percent who want all U.S. troops removed. That's a 7-point increase since April. HOW IS THE WAR GOING? Well 22% Badly 77% Fewer than one in five thinks that the troop increase is helping to improve the situation in Iraq, while about half think the war is actually creating more terrorists. The poll has bad news for President Bush, too. His job approval rating slipped to 27 percent, his lowest number ever in a CBS News poll — 3 points less than last month and 1 point below his previous low of 28 percent in January. His disapproval rating is also at an all-time high of 65 percent. U.S. TROOP LEVELS IN IRAQ SHOULD Increase 11% Keep the same number 17% Decrease 26% Remove all troops 40% "Presidents usually have popularity problems in their last two years in office," said Kathy Frankovic, CBS News director of surveys. "But the combination of shrinking support for the war in Iraq and opposition to domestic initiatives like the immigration bill has made assessment of this administration especially negative. "Americans don't only disapprove of the president; they overwhelmingly see the country as on the wrong track," Frankovic said But Congress also fared poorly in the poll. Its approval rating was also at 27 percent — a 9-point drop from last month. Nearly six in 10 among those surveyed said the 110th Congress has accomplished less during the last six months than Congress usually does. Vice President Dick Cheney received a similarly low rating, with 28 percent approval and 59 percent disapproval. The poll found a record number of Americans, 75 percent, believe the country is headed in the wrong direction. Only 19 percent think the U.S. is on the right track — the lowest number since CBS News first asked the question in 1983. DIRECTION OF THE COUNTRY Wrong track 75% Right direction 19% There's also rising concern about America's standing in the world. Seven in 10 Americans say the United States is not respected around the world today. More than half say President Bush's foreign policy has made world leaders less likely to cooperate with the U.S.; just 10 percent say he's made foreign leaders more agreeable. cbsnews.com

To: Win Smith who wrote (234766)	6/30/2007 8:52:24 PM
From: Nadine Carroll	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

And what, exactly constitutes an NPR "headline", he dryly asks. I will answer that as if it were a serious question: It is the five minutes of news most NPR stations run at the top of every hour. This morning it included three Marines indicted for murdering an Iraq. No mention that I have heard of Arrowhead Ripper, and I hear this top of the hour news about 5 or 6 times on average per day. The impression NPR coverage gives is that American soldiers go back and forth on patrol on Iraq, getting blown up by IEDs like ducks in a shooting gallery. Casualties lead, bad care for wounded soldiers lead, indictments lead. Military operations never lead. Military heroics never get mentioned. Here is a request form a serving solider in Iraq: COL. SIMCOCK: (Chuckles.) I'll tell you what, the one thing that all Marines want to know about -- and that includes me and everyone within Regimental Combat Team 6 -- we want to know that the American public are behind us. We believe that the actions that we're taking over here are very, very important to America. We're fighting a group of people that, if they could, would take away the freedoms that America enjoys. If anyone -- you know, just sit down, jot us -- throw us an e- mail, write us a letter, let us know that the American public are behind us. Because we watch the news just like everyone else. It's broadcast over here in our chow halls and the weight rooms, and we watch that stuff, and we're a little bit concerned sometimes that America really doesn't know what's going on over here, and we get sometimes concerns that the American public isn't behind us and doesn't see the importance of what's going on. So that's something I think that all Marines, soldiers and sailors would like to hear from back home, that in fact, yes, they think what we're doing over here is important and they are in fact behind us. http://www.blackfive.net/main/2007/06/roundtable_with.html