US support for Iraqi war waning
2006-02-01 21:05
Lafayette - President George W Bush's renewed calls for America to stand behind his efforts in Iraq have fallen on deaf ears in the United States heartland.
Bush again ruled out a hasty withdrawal from Iraq in his state of the union speech on Tuesday, but many polls said more than half of Americans thought it was a mistake sending troops to Iraq.
According to the latest data from the Gallup Poll, a majority also believed the Bush administration deliberately misled the American public about whether Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.
A growing number of Americans feared the US would be forced to maintain a long-term military presence in Iraq: 33% told Gallup in January that they believed US troops would have to stay for more than three years, up from 29% in December.
'Bush hangs on to his key fans'
And, 47% said US troops would have to stay for between one and three years, down from 53% in the last Gallup survey.
James McCann, a professor of political science at Purdue University in Lafayette, Indiana, said that while the survey data showed that Bush had managed to hang on to his key supporters - Republicans overwhelmingly told pollsters the war was not a mistake - the reality was much more nuanced.
He said: "There's a heavy nationalistic component here and I think it's heartfelt - people would feel generally bad if they felt they were denigrating the troops.
"I think there are sober reassessments going on even in places like Lafayette."
Soldier killed in Iraq
The war came home to this conservative town in the heart of the Midwest this week with the funeral of a 23-year-old soldier killed in Iraq.
It was Lafayette's first casualty. School children stood on the roadside to watch the procession and flags, which were lowered in front of police stations, shops and homes.
Mayor Tony Roswarski said: "It's a very patriotic city. We stand behind our soldiers and their families."
But, despite the flags and yellow ribbon decals on the backs of cars and trucks, many people here thought the loss of 2 100 US soldiers was not justified.