WASHINGTON (Aug. 24)

With public confidence declining in President Bush's handling of the war in
Iraq, nearly 70 percent of Americans feel the United States will be bogged down
in the country for years without achieving its goals, a poll finds.

The Newsweek poll released Saturday also found that nearly 6 of 10 people are
concerned that the U.S. military will be overextended should another security
threat arise outside Iraq. And 7 of 10 are concerned the costs of the war
will increase the deficit and hurt the economy.

The war costs the United States roughly $1 billion per week.

The poll of 1,011 adults was taken Thursday and Friday, just after last
week's suicide truck bombing at the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad that
killed the top U.N. envoy there and at least 22 others.

U.S. and British troops have also been targets of guerrilla attacks. Military
figures show that 135 U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq since May 1, when
President Bush declared the end of major combat operations there.

Americans had mixed feelings over how to proceed. About 48 percent said the
United States should withdraw military personnel because of the attacks, while
47 percent said the soldiers should stay.

About 61 percent said the United States did the right thing in taking
military action, down 7 percent from a poll taken in late July.

And 72 percent say they would support turning over some authority for
rebuilding Iraq to the United Nations. France, Russia, India and other countries have
ruled out sending soldiers to Iraq unless a multinational force is authorized
by the United Nations.

The poll found that 54 percent approved of Bush's handling of the Iraqi
situation, down from 58 percent in late July.

And for the first time in a Newsweek poll, the percentage of registered
voters who would not like to see Bush re-elected as president outnumbered those who
supported a second term (49 percent to 44 percent).

The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]

To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~