Ship of fools 2

Despite the Pollyanic prophesies of rightwingers like Chrenkoff, most Americans continue to get that sinking feeling about Iraq. According to the latest poll numbers in today's Wall Street Journal Online:

Half of U.S. adults now believe insurgents are getting the upper hand in Iraq, a recent Harris poll finds, compared with 41% who felt that way in a June 2005 survey. At the same time, 46% of those polled believe security of Iraqi civilians is getting worse, compared with 37% in June. And more than a third of Americans feel the "overall infrastructure of Iraq" is worsening, compared with 29% in the previous poll. As in June, most Americans (61%) favor bringing a large number of U.S. troops home from Iraq in the next year, the poll shows. That's up sharply from 47% in a November 2004 poll. In comparison, 36% of those polled say they want to keep troops in Iraq until a stable government is established there, down from 50% in November, the poll shows. The Aug. 9-16, 2005 poll of 2,717 U.S. adults also shows a decline from November in the number of Americans who feel the invasion of Iraq has helped to protect the U.S. Thirty-eight percent now agree that it helped the U.S., down from 46% in 2004. Skepticism of Iraq's ability to set up a stable government has also grown; 56% now say they aren't confident Iraq will be successful in developing a stable and reasonably democratic government, up from 51% in June.