Iraq War Losing Support

Commentary
By Scott McLean

American outrage over the war in Iraq and concern about the decisions of their president and Congress have increased in recent weeks.

Marking the three-year anniversary of the war's beginning, President Bush said there will be victory in Iraq that will lead to long-term peace, but a growing number of people believe the military effort won't be successful.

Although there are those who say Iraq is not presently in a civil war, the country is going the opposite direction of order, to what some might call chaos.

Then there is the fact that American troops are not fighting a military there, as they were when the war began three years ago. They are fighting terrorists who will never surrender.

The only way of achieving the sort of victory the president is talking about is to keep a large number of troops there until the terrorists are all gone.

How is that going to be possible? Meanwhile, the casualties of troops and innocent Iraqis are growing.

An enormous U.S. deficit resulting from allocations to the military will likely lead to tax increases in the near future.

These are just a few of the reasons more and more Americans do not approve of the war effort and the job the president is doing.

Congress may be the biggest losers politically in this whole situation, especially Republicans who could lose control of the House of Representatives.

Some observers are curious as to what will happen in this year's House elections, because every two years all the members are up for re-election.

This time around many incumbents (those representatives in office at this time) have negative issues which could negatively impact their campaigns, and the war is likely the most damaging of those issues.