WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush, hit by polls showing America's support for the Iraq war at an all-time low, denied on Tuesday Iraq was sliding into civil war, despite the worst sectarian strife since a U.S. invasion.
Asked what Washington would do if civil war broke out in Iraq, Bush told ABC News: "I don't buy your premise that there's going to be a civil war."
He said he had spoken to leaders of all Iraqi sects and "I heard loud and clear that they understand that they're going to choose unification, and we're going to help them do so."
Despite that, sectarian bloodshed has complicated efforts to forge a new unity government.President Bushis seen in the Oval Office of the White House, February 28, 2006. REUTERS/Larry Downing
Considering the violence that has occurred in Iraq over this past week, and the death toll from these attacks now hovering at over 60, Bush still doesn't believe that Iraq is heading into a civil war. He is still spinning the PR that Iraq wants a unified government, rather than chaos. Mr. President, while the leaders in Iraq may want a unified country, the citizens of Iraq may have other opinions. You better get use to more car bombings and suicide bombings as the Shiites attack the Sunnis, and the Sunnis attach the Shiites.
Now for this little quote regarding Bush's declining poll numbers:
At home, pessimism over Iraq, and Bush's support -- despite bipartisan objections -- for letting a state-owned Arab company take over operations at six U.S. ports, appeared to be major factors driving his job performance rating down to 34 percent.
They were the lowest CBS News poll numbers of his presidency, creating a grim picture in a midterm election year.
Bush brushed aside the findings, saying ups and downs in the polls were not worth worrying about.
"I've got ample capital and I'm using it to spread freedom and to protect the American people," he told ABC before leaving on an trip to South Asia that offered a breather from problems and miscues that have recently plagued him in his second term.CBS News Graphic
How can I comment on something this absurd? Look at my post on the CBS News Poll. A majority of Americans (7 out of 10) disapprove of the sale of American ports to DP World. His own job performance rating is down to 34 percent. Fifty-one percent of Americans think that the president doesn't care about ordinary American citizens. Half of Americans say they disapprove of the president's handling of the war on terror. The president's poll numbers are dropping, and yet he still claims that he has ample political capital? What country does the president believe he's successfully governing--Candyland?
Now here's a third interesting detail in this story:
Raising questions about Bush's vow to keep troops in Iraq as long as they are needed, a Le Moyne College/Zogby poll showed 72 percent of U.S troops serving there think the United States should exit within the next year. Nearly one in four said the troops should leave immediately.
A strategy often used by the Bush administration against opponents of the war in Iraq has been to accuse them of being unfair to troops who want to stay until they get the job done.U.S. President George W. Bush greets U.S. Marines from the 7th Marine Division on their way to Kuwait during Bush's refueling stop in Shannon, Ireland, Wednesday, March 1, 2006. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
You have to love the hypocrisy here. President Bush has always stated that American troops will stay in Iraq until they get the job done--until they complete the mission. This argument has pretty much blunted opponent's calls for a time-table on withdrawing U.S. troops. Of course, the Bush administration has also stated that such a time-table would be advantageous to the terrorists, since the terrorists could wait out the U.S. occupation forces. Never mind that the president has never defined any clear steps or measurable goals for completing "the mission." But now we get this interesting little poll number saying that 72 percent of American troops serving in Iraq want the U.S. to pull out by next year. And almost a quarter of the troops want the U.S. to immediately pull out of Iraq. Let's put some troop numbers into this equation. According to this USA Today story, the Pentagon estimates that there are 138,000 American forces in Iraq by March 2006. If 72 percent of American forces believe that the U.S. should pull out of Iraq by next year, and there are 138,000 forces currently in Iraq, it would mean that 99,360 American troops want to go home by next year. Even more astounding is that 34,500 troops, or a quarter of the 138,000 American forces in Iraq, want to pull out immediately.
This number is only going to go up, as long as President Bush continues to dawdle in Iraq
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