Cliff LyonLarge Majority of US Troops Disaprove of Bush “The Decider”
The Military Times poll finds that only 35 percent of respondents approve of Bush’s handling of the war — down from 63 percent two years ago — while 42% disapprove of it.
Only 35 percent of the military members polled this year said they approve of the way President Bush is handling the war, while 42 percent said they disapproved.
From the Army Times
Evidence of how smart US troops are…
Just as telling, in this year’s poll only 41 percent of the military said the U.S. should have gone to war in Iraq in the first place, down from 65 percent in 2003.
Perhaps this will help our friends at ASP wake up and join the vast majority of Americans. It will take some backbone, but it’s better than spending the rest of your life an angry bitter outcast.
Gotta LOVE AMERICA! h/t Richard
December 29th, 2006 at 9:10 pm
I am rather surprised that the President’s war-handling approval rating is THAT high. I don’t approve, as I’ve mentioned before. His administration seemed completely unprepared with a follow-up plan, and they seem to react to everything instead of knowing beforehand what they want to accomplish. They know very little of Iraqi history, tradition, and culture, nor do they encourage the troops to know and respect it. Mistakes were made that I can’t imagine were made stupidly–but they must have been.
Yet, despite it all, the troops endure in a struggle that they (we) hope will end in freedom for a people who have never known it. If a president is not going to fight a campaign the way it should be fought, though, I can see why the troops may wonder what it’s all for.
But no, regardless of the outcome, most of our individual desires to help effect a positive outcome in Iraq will preclude us from living “the rest of [our lives] as..angry bitter outcast[s].”
December 30th, 2006 at 9:22 am
Two questions Frank,
1. How can fix Iraq without letting our soldiers shoot to kill when confronted by an Iraqi who wants to kill him?
2. Why then do so many of our fellow Utahns still support Bush?
December 30th, 2006 at 12:26 pm
Answer to question 2 first: I DO NOT KNOW, and it baffles me greatly. Somehow there is this apocryphal feeling among many Mormons that you have to be a republican to get into heaven or something. We are enjoined in our religion (Doctrine and Covenants section 88:118) to learn not just of religious things, but to learn of “the wars and perplexities of the nations”, their cultures, traditions, histories, etc. Maybe a lot of Mormons are too busy with the religious dogma to think they have time to think about the other important things. (Now I do have to say that I was impressed that 6 years ago a lot of Utahns (31% ?) thought outside the box and voted for Alan Keyes in the Republican primary.)
Answer to Question 1: We have to let the service members shoot when they feel threatened and punish those (I think very few) who shoot for sport or because ‘no one will ever know and I can just blame it on the rush of war.’ Haditha is a good example of this.
I’ve got to run, so I’ll submit this comment before I lose it, and I’ll continue commenting on your question 1 later…
December 30th, 2006 at 1:11 pm
Frank– I’d have to agree that Alan Keyes is “outside the box.” In fact I’d say that was an understatement– I wonder if Keyes could even find the box! I’ll look forward to the rest of your comment.
Cliff– 42 percent disapproval isn’t a large majority.
December 30th, 2006 at 2:19 pm
Richard,
Given the context, I’d say it’s a huge majority. It is certainly accurate to say that a majority polled disapprove.
But when you consider 33% had no opinion and the 35% approval includes troops with balls the size of Bush’s brain…
I mean, for a soldier to announce they don’t approve of Bush’s handling of the war, is kind of like saying you don’t like your Dad’s BBQ recipe. Lying is easier.
December 30th, 2006 at 3:16 pm
Cliff and Richard,
I knew I should have made a pencil note, instead of a mental one about the rest of my comment, but here it is, in essence…
When we trained before we left for Iraq, we had days upon days of training in the art of warfare, but only two hours of what they called the “Iraqi Culture Briefing”. I probably could have taught it better than the US Military intel types who taught the almost worthless class. Here’s “Military Stupid” for you–our warfare training included a lot of Iraqi-Americans, who played actors–most of the time playing the part of the adversary instead of showing us how to work together with them. And did the Army think about inviting any one of these (at least 100) Iraqis to teach the Iraqi culture class? Nope! I happened to get the phone number of one of them, and was able to get them to come to our company-sized element for two separate days, one to teach the nuances of the Arabic language, and the other to teach the Iraqi culture. Those were two of the best days I had (there were many others in Iraq) while on active duty military service, because I feel like I finally got a tiny glimpse into a completely different culture.
Considering that we’re there in Iraq now, I think THE ONE GREATEST THING we could do to improve the situation is to imbue the troops with an understanding of Iraqi and Arabic language and culture, taught by Iraqis–grandpas, grandmas, moms, dads, and children. War has a tendency to make the opposing sides look at each other in some way as less than human, and such interaction with the people would inform a remarkable transformation in both the Iraqi people and American troops.
I honestly don’t think many soldiers had the same goal as I did, but most of them I knew acted with maturity and courtesy to the Iraqi people. My major goal while being in Iraq was to show the people that not only did Americans care about them, but that the American military did, as well. In that vein I got to know as many people as the mission would allow, handed out as many soccer balls, clothing, school supplies, and toys as I could, had two different Arabic tutors, and used my halting Arabic as often as I could, to the appreciation of Iraqis–young and old alike. My inaugural Serving Iraq blog post happened to be an anecdote of how my slight understanding of Arabic helped us solve what could have been a big misunderstanding.
Also, you might be interested in viewing a documentary about my battalion, the 222nd Field Artillery, known as the Triple Deuce. You can see the trailer (and even order a copy of the DVD) of “The War within the War: Tales From the 222″ here.
December 30th, 2006 at 4:22 pm
Frank, you did what I would have done in the same situation (I served four years as a lieutenant with the 2d Armored Division in Fort Hood, Texas and in Germany in the late 1970s). And I found out later while working in Yemen that even a few Arabic phrases and a smidgen of cultural awareness can go a long way.
I think the Iraq Study Group discovered that out of a thousand embassy staff in Baghdad, only 33 know any Arabic and six(!) can speak the language fluently (I don’t know if they counted our ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad).
December 30th, 2006 at 4:50 pm
Part of the apparent cluelessness that haunts the Bush administration, US government in general, and America as we sit in our ivory tower.
December 30th, 2006 at 5:11 pm
That’s awesome Frank, and no surprise. You’ve shown yourself to be a great man of the highest intergrity.
Having never been in the Military but having devoured the stories, books and documentaries, I have always noticed that the average corn-fed GI represented our country well in every war.
But as with our schools today, sometimes the bad eggs begin to pollute the culture of respect and pull good men down with them.
I wonder if is really possible to convert the mission into a cultural exchange at this point. Its an ‘idealistic’ idea, and I would expect nothing less from you. But is it really possible?
…for the same reason the mil-bureacracy didn’t have the creativity to let the Iraqis train you in cultural awareness.
I think about it all the time. It is a crime how bad we;ve messed up Iraq, but for the life of me, I can’s see anyway to fix it.
Except…I heard one ex General on C-Span suggest buying finished IEDs for like $1000 bucks each.