U.S. troops in Iraq want to come home
A new Zogby poll indicates that "[a]n overwhelming majority of 72% of American troops serving in Iraq think the U.S. should exit the country within the next year, and nearly one in four say the troops should leave immediately". In addition, 42% say that their mission in Iraq is "either somewhat or very unclear to them, that they have no understanding of it at all, or are unsure".
Zogby himself discusses the poll at The Huffington Post.
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Around the blogosphere:
Steve Soto: "Nearly 40% think that Americans favoring withdrawal are unpatriotic, yet these are the same troops who may believe they are there in the first place for reasons that have been proven false. Swell. Here’s my question: has the Pentagon ever told the troops that the reasons they were sent there were found to be based on lies?"
Chris Bowers: "The troops want to leave. The Iraqi public wants them to leave. The American public wants them to leave. The only people who don't want them to leave are elected Republican officials, their apologists, and a handful of loser Democrats in leadership roles (many of whom are running for President)."
More broadly, Steve Benen looks at the so-called "defeat-and-retreat caucus". It's growing... and getting more diverse all the time.
See also Sadly, No!, Booman Tribune, and Taylor Marsh.
Doesn't seem like too many of our fellow bloggers on the right are commenting on this. I wonder why.
Zogby himself discusses the poll at The Huffington Post.
**********
Around the blogosphere:
Steve Soto: "Nearly 40% think that Americans favoring withdrawal are unpatriotic, yet these are the same troops who may believe they are there in the first place for reasons that have been proven false. Swell. Here’s my question: has the Pentagon ever told the troops that the reasons they were sent there were found to be based on lies?"
Chris Bowers: "The troops want to leave. The Iraqi public wants them to leave. The American public wants them to leave. The only people who don't want them to leave are elected Republican officials, their apologists, and a handful of loser Democrats in leadership roles (many of whom are running for President)."
More broadly, Steve Benen looks at the so-called "defeat-and-retreat caucus". It's growing... and getting more diverse all the time.
See also Sadly, No!, Booman Tribune, and Taylor Marsh.
Doesn't seem like too many of our fellow bloggers on the right are commenting on this. I wonder why.
posted by Michael J.W. Stickings at
5:59 PM
1 Comments:
Well, frankly, I think if you had asked the soldiers at the Battle of the Bulge, they probably would have said, we should go home. I'm not denigrating what they think, but frontline soldiers are not the best source for policy advice--whether they are for the war or against it.
On the other hand, if morale is slipping that is a real problem, not just for Iraq, but for the future of the military (especially the army) in general. I was very concerned to see that the army is apparently loosening its standards for recruiting and perhaps lowering its training standards. That's not good at all--I hope we don't end up with a post-Viet Nam type military. That might be Bush's real legacy, albeit not one he would embrace.
As for the Iraqi public, is it true that they want the troops to leave? I know the occupation is not popular but my impression is that the public is worried that a precipitous withdrawl would just destabilize things even more.
I was against the war and thought, and still think it was a mistake. But I'm not convinced that withdrawing now is the correct policy. As Colin Powell said, "we broke it,now it's ours." I don't know whether leaving would make things worse or better but it seems irresponsible to ignore the responsibility we have for what has happened in Iraq.
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