Pew Poll Finds Waning Faith In Military Interventions

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http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0907-08.htm

Published on Thursday, September 7, 2006 by the Inter Press Service
Poll Finds Waning Faith in Military Interventions
by Jim Lobe

WASHINGTON - Five years after "9/11", the U.S. public is considerably less enthusiastic about projecting military power abroad, according to a major new survey, the first of a spate of polls that are likely to released in the run-up to Monday's fifth anniversary of the attacks on New York and the Pentagon.

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Publication of the Pew survey coincided with the release of a second poll released Wednesday by CNN which found widespread scepticism over claims by the administration of President George W. Bush that the U.S. is making progress in the war on Iraq and that the war is related to the larger "global war on terrorism" launched after 9/11.

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Despite repeated and increasingly frequent assertions by Bush that the war in Iraq has become the "central front" in the war on terrorism, a majority of 53 percent said it was "an entirely separate military action." A larger majority of 58 percent said they opposed the war, compared to 39 percent who said they favoured it -- a margin that has not changed substantially over recent months.

The most interesting finding of the latest Pew poll appeared to be the growing public disillusionment with U.S. military intervention: By a 45 percent to 32 percent margin, respondents said they believed that the most effective way to reduce the threat of terrorist attacks on the U.S. is to "decrease" rather than "increase" Washington's military presence abroad.

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On the question of why the U.S. has lost support around the world, more than two-thirds of respondents identified a "major reason" as the Iraq war, 58 percent cited "America's wealth and power"; 49 percent, "the U.S.-led war on terror"; and 46 percent, "U..S. support for Israel".

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