More Rallies, No Sale Bush Fails to Resolve Public Doubts About War

More Rallies, No Sale
Bush Fails to Resolve Public Doubts About War

By David S. Broder
Thursday, March 16, 2006; Page A23
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/15/AR2006031502182.html

On the third anniversary of the war in Iraq, President Bush once again finds himself trying to rally American public opinion to support that costly venture. The series of speeches that began this week comes against a background of deepening skepticism on the part of voters about the effort that began in March 2003 with a lightning strike against Saddam Hussein's forces.

A CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll, taken just as Bush began this latest oratorical push, found 57 percent of those surveyed said it was a mistake to start the war and 60 percent believe the struggle for democracy and order in that country is going badly. Only 1 voter in 3 believes Bush has a clear plan for winning or ending the war.

It was that sense of futility that Bush sought once again to overcome in his speech Monday at George Washington University. Acknowledging that with sectarian violence raging, "we still have difficult work ahead in Iraq," the president nonetheless found "signs of a hopeful future." He predicted that the power struggle among factions of the Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish populations would give way to a government that "represents the will of the Iraqi people."

"We have a comprehensive strategy for victory in Iraq," he said, describing a victory that would enable American troops to leave the country in a position where terrorists no longer threaten and Iraqi forces can provide their own security.

That is a consummation devoutly to be wished for. But, as retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni, the former head of Central Command, which includes the Middle East, argues, the United States may be greatly mistaken in believing that it can determine the future of Iraq.

A little cost-benefit anaylsis would be helpful here.

before the Americans start to revolt and stage their own civil war right here at home ***.



***In Vietnam, we were embroiled for 10 years. We lost 58,000 American troops. When we finally reached that number, people started to demand an end to the war.