How Many Months at War?
Headline in the Christian Science Monitor, April 2012:
Ron Paul: Most Americans agree with him on Afghanistan pullout
Reports CSM:
“But it is the war that’s gone on for more than 10 years in Afghanistan – a war that is not going particularly well and that has seen a series of incidents where supposed Afghan allies have killed US service personnel – where the public’s agreement with Paul seems most evident.
“Support for the war in Afghanistan has dropped sharply among both Republicans and Democrats,” the New York Times reported this past week.
The assertion is based on the latest New York Times/CBS poll, which finds that opposition to the war jumped from 53 percent four months ago to 69 percent today.
Weariness with the war crosses party lines. While Republicans are more inclined to support the war, 60 percent say the war is going very or somewhat badly, and only about 30 percent of Republicans surveyed said the US should stay in Afghanistan.
Other polls show similar tracking.
Last June, Americans were evenly split on US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, according to a Pew Research Center survey. Today, Pew finds the withdraw-stay split to be 57-35 percent.
Gallup finds Americans divided 2-to-1 regarding troop withdrawal. Half of those surveyed want an accelerated withdrawal while just 24 percent say the US should stick to its current 2014 timetable.
In a floor speech in the House of Representatives recently, Paul warned that if the US isn’t out of Afghanistan by the end of the year, “we’ll be there for another decade.”
“The American people are now with us,” he said, and on that point he’s increasingly correct.”
Hmm. I wonder why? (credit to The Young Turks)
