The Afghan War, which is far from a success, was never as much an immediate risk to the Bush Administration as the Iraq War. For one thing, the Administration was never willing to make the kind of commitment of troops and money to Afghanistan to do really successful "nation-building" there. But the loss of seven American soldiers in Afghanistan on Thursday is a reminder that the Afghan War is far from over.
But invading and occupying Iraq was a far bigger undertaking. And the risky move of justifying the war based on cooked intelligence increased the political danger for the Bush Administration of the war, not only domestically but internationally. As we're now seeing: Iraq War Questions Gain Momentum Los Angeles Times 01/30/04.
Even some Republicans are urging the White House to respond more forthrightly to questions about how U.S. intelligence could be so flawed.
"Politically the president really needs to explain this to the American people," said Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.), a senior member of the House Intelligence Committee who supported the Iraq war. "It undermines his ability to continue to talk to the American people about the war on terrorism."
This article also gives a good example of how the pollsters and the press often miss the significance of foreign policy issues in elections. It cites a Pew Research Center poll showing that 65% of the people think "going to war was the right decision."
But without knowing how the question was worded, that tells us next to nothing. Despite what reporters often seem to think, most people can and do make some calculation of whether a war was worth the cost. A large majority in May also thought most US troops would be withdrawn within 90 days or so. Do you think some of those people might be disillusioned with the conduct of the war?
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