Poll Suggests Americans Buying ‘End of War’ in Iraq

Sudden Shift Shows Americans View War Positively in Retrospect

Despite years of polling up until a few weeks ago showing massive American opposition to the war in Iraq, a new poll from Fox News showed a remarkable shift in public opinion which seems to be based on the mistaken belief that the war is now “over.”

The poll shows that 58% of Americans now think the US “did the right thing” in the war, suggesting that there is already of whimsical “alls well that ends well” viewpoint swelling in the opinion of American voters, despite the massive death tolls, unfathomable cost, and fairly major handicap of the war still going on.

Obama Administration officials have been championing the notion that the war is “over” for weeks now, with President Obama giving a high profile speech on Tuesday praising President Bush for starting the war in the first place.

Which may explain why the poll also showed that a small majority of Americans give President Bush credit for the “success” of the war. 50,000 US troops remain in Iraq, as well as tens of thousands of security contractors.

Though violence is somewhat down from its peak in 2006-07, the death toll is soaring in recent months in Iraq, with July serving as the deadliest month in over two years for Iraqi civilians. US military officials on the ground in Iraq predict that the Iraqis will eventually ask the US to stay beyond the supposedly “firm” December 2011 deadline for leaving the country.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.