Poll: Majority Of Americans Say War Not Worth It

CBS News:

One the eve of the five-year anniversary of the start of the war with Iraq, Americans continue to think the results of the war have not been worth the loss of American lives and the other costs of attacking Iraq, according to a new CBS News poll.

Today 29 percent of Americans say the results of the war were worth it; 64 percent say they were not.

In August 2003, less than six months after the beginning of the war, Americans were divided as the whether or not the results of the war were worth it. Opinion reached a low point in March 2006 - when only one in four Americans said the war was worth the costs.

Read the whole story: CBS News

Comments

[Nochnoi]

Yeah.... we all love illegal invasion and occupation of a sovereign nation........ not to mention thousands of dead American soldiers, tens of thousand of wounded....and hundreds of thousands of dead or displaced Iraqis.... Yipee! (sarcasm)

[LRM216]

"This poll was conducted among a random sample of 844 adults nationwide, interviewed by telephone March 15-17, 2008. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus three percentage points. The error for subgroups is higher. "


THIS was the poll?????? You are kidding, right?

[Emmagoldmanbabe]

No war is/was worth it. I cry at the money spent, the lives lost during the past 5 years. Not to mention making us hated by the world community, the horror of it all.

John McCain will not keep us safe. He will sacrifice more lives for the wealth of the few. I don't think that any of the candidates get this right, but Clinton/Obama might not get us in even deeper.

[CarlyCorday]

Here huffpost goes again, losing my comments, though I gave up and hadn't made one in several weeks--so I'll try to reiterate word-for-word because I think the ways in which each of us (Cheney's "majorityof Americans") was suckered in is important on this Culture of Death anniversary.

I pitied the Iraqi people under Saddam and thought they would be set free. Even so, I opposed the invasion because I didn't want American troops to die. I feared for the Iraqi people nearly as much as I pitied their plight under Saddam and his sons. I knew Iraqis would be killed. I believed this might become a quagmire, another Vietnam. But I never believed it was for oil. How miserably fooled I was, believing BUSHCO was the good guys! THEY are killing Americans. THEY are my enemy. But at least I didn't vote for them again in 2004. I used to be a gun-totin' female hardass repug. Today I'm an ultra left-wing liberal Democrat. How bad does a presidential adminstration have to be to accomplish that?!

INFAMY!!! BUSCHO are war criminals. I am holding my breath in true hope of seeing them prosecuted. If I were anywhere near San Francisco today, instead of a little house in the Ozarks, I'd be in the street on this day. I expect to make it to the streets with my sign held high in the near future, as these evil times continue. The war must stop now. The criminals must pay.

(Okay...clicky button. Saved it this time, so I can repost and repost until it appears, if that is even possible here. *sigh*)

[kardwell]

I watched part of the HBO series "John Adams" last night, and I found the production to be a poignant and powerful depiction of the founding of our nation. For me, the series served as a timely reminder of the historical and philosophical roots of our country and of the true sentiments that inspired our founding mothers and fathers to pursue such an amazing feat. Several insights registered as I watched the show.The patriots -- men, women, slaves, native Americans -- who fought for liberty and freedom risked all in challenging the British establishment to escape precisely the conditions our executive office and congresional leaders have today wrought upon us. They would roll in their graves if they witnessed what we as a nation have become -- the vacuum of integral leadership in the Executive Branch, the passivity of Congress, and the apathy and ignorance of the American people who have allowed this to happen.Taxation without representation is tyranny -- We, the American people, have no rights and no true representation as it stands, and this situation is clearly reflected in the words, attitudes, and actions of this administration. Of course Bush and Cheney do not acknowledge the polls and the will of the American people. It was never their intention to serve the nation, but to pillage and plunder the coffers and constitution of the US, as well as several other nations abroad could they get away with it...and they have.Religion, Christianity more specifically, did not inform the framing of the Constitution. Not for a minute did I ever believe, as so many individuals assert today, that this nation was intended to be the vehicle for domination of the Christian Right, nor exclusive to other faiths and religions.Just my two cents for the day.....I have many more thoughts to share, but I will refrain and recommend that you watch the series yourself. It is truly inspirational."Trust no man with power to endanger the public liberty"-John Adams 1772

[brwnizofmine]

Bush and Cheyney should go to Iraq, Bush should take his two drunk daughters with him and while they're at it, take Hillary and Joe Lieberman along too, since they voted for it! Vote for McCain and get another 100 years of war! How many people have sons or daughters of draft age, because believe me if they keep starting wars, eventually they are going to have to bring the draft back. How many of you want your sons or daughters in a crazy land where people blow themselves up for the fun of it? We need to get off their soil, they do not want us over there.

[kardwell]

I watched part of the HBO series "John Adams" last night, and I found the production to be a poignant and powerful depiction of the founding of our nation. For me, the series served as a timely reminder of the historical and philosophical roots of our country and of the true sentiments that inspired our founding mothers and fathers to pursue such an amazing feat. Several insights registered as I watched the show.
The patriots -- men, women, slaves, native Americans -- who fought for liberty and freedom risked all in challenging the British establishment to escape precisely the conditions our executive office and congresional leaders have today wrought upon us. They would roll in their graves if they witnessed what we as a nation have become -- the vacuum of integral leadership in the Executive Branch, the passivity of Congress, and the apathy and ignorance of the American people who have allowed this to happen.
Taxation without representation is tyranny -- We, the American people, have no rights and no true representation as it stands, and this situation is clearly reflected in the words, attitudes, and actions of this administration. Of course Bush and Cheney do not acknowledge the polls and the will of the American people. It was never their intention to serve the nation, but to pillage and plunder the coffers and constitution of the US, as well as several other nations abroad could they get away with it...and they have.
Religion, Christianity more specifically, did not inform the framing of the Constitution. Not for a minute did I ever believe, as so many individuals assert today, that this nation was intended to be the vehicle for domination of the Christian Right, nor exclusive to other faiths and religions.
Just my two cents for the day.....I have many more thoughts to share, but I will refrain and recommend that you watch the series yourself. It is truly inspirational.
"Trust no man with power to endanger the public liberty"-John Adams 1772

[JoeBlough]

The war was a business transaction. An easy way for the Bush Club to earn big bucks with little work. Heck, the Republican businesses didn't even have to try to sell the Government their services. They got no bid contracts wether they wanted then or not.

[oogabooga]

Oil stocks up four times in value, natural gas 5 times, Halliburton and Shaw up 4 or 5 times, defense contractors up two or three times - all in a few years. I am certain many savvy people saw the Cheney plan and placed their stock bets accordingly. One hundred thousand bucks placed well seven years ago would be worth somewhere around 500 grand now.

[noamjunior]

good points also look at the profits of the GOP's largest donors (exxon mobil-chevron) since the Iraq war

[NickOhio]

Bush & Cheney refuse to listen to public opinion. They want the war to fill their bank accounts in the Cayman Islands or Argentina. They were put into office by those who wanted the same or were too ignorant of the facts. For many of us, it was easy to see through their lies and deceitful actions. They cheated to get where they are and they lied to us about the reasons for war. They lied about the use of torture. They lied to us about so many aspects of the war that if you choose any one item, it would be enough to impeach the lot of them, with much more evidence available than what was used to impeach Clinton.

Polls are the pulse of the people. Why did Bush get rotten veggies and fruit thrown at him in his 2001 victory parade on Inauguration Day? Why did he avoid that parade in 2005? People were angry then and still are today. The lies have to stop and people have to take responsibility for their actions.

[transendentilist]

In the 60s, people began breaking away from the system, because that system was broken. It still, is broken. When we kow tow to these swine in DC, and work within the sytem, we get screwed. Every damn time. It's time for some good old fashioned radicalism. Our government no longer works for..."We the people."

[opines]

A preemptive strike, invasion/occupation and attempted armed-robbery of a weaker nation;s oil resources is losing support of the American public because it wasn't quick, easy and cheap as promised.

Presumably, it would be OK with the public if it didn't cost so much.

Is there a candidate who will try to 'change the mindset' that fosters such mikitary imperialism?

Just asking.

[bikerdude]

This whole article and the comments are absurd. Bush and company should be at The Hague defending themselves in war crimes trials. They lied to get us into this mess and are lying to keep us there. The only hope we have is to start impeachment proceedings immediately. Let the truth come out under oath in public. We deserve to have bush and his merry minions held accountable.

[LeonBNJ]

One of the most forgotten and worse acts in our decision to go into Iraq was the destruction of the day to day government there. Almost all but the oil ministry were destroyed, ransacked, knowlegable people chased out, documents lost, health care facilities, police and military collasped and so on. One has to wonder if that was intentional, so that Iraq could be better controled by the USA. Meantime, millions of Iraqis are without regular or safe water, electricty, health care and other necessary functions of government inciting more hate against the USA. Of course oil production is much less than under Saddam raising the price of oil and who knows if that wasn't a part of the plan too, helping the other oil producing countries and big oil companies.
It is a shameful anniversary and will most probably see a 6th next year with no real decline in our occupation there.

[Horst]

Americans learn geography by going to war. Fools.

[BlackWidowPilot]

Herr Horst,

*all* Americans, mein herr? All 300+ million of us?

What would you like to know about *geography?*

Thanks for the tar and feathers, pal.

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen

[sassafra]

not all americans, just the ones that voted for bush.
i'll match my knowledge of geography with yours any day skippy. oh, by the way, i'd be willing to bet that americans hauled your countries ashes out of the fire during a war in the past, either that or your country was the instigator and you're being a bit hypocritical....my guess is dutch. and ashes.

[PBKman]

Horst, let me offer you a chance to clarify yourself. Are you saying Americans, in general, tend to only learn geography from wars and not the educational system, which makes them fools (which is a valid argument.)

Or are you calling HuffPo readers fools, as the responses below have assumed.

Just trying to clear things up.

[researcher]

by the comments you received horst you can see that we americans are still in a state of denial.

the reality is we have all supported a mega military budget and industrial military complex since the second world war with our tax dollars.

ike warned us what would happen but no one listened in america.

we must all share the blame but instead we blame our politicans without realizing they are only a reflection of all americans.

until we look into the mirror and see our imperialism and war mongering as a mindset nothing will change in america. thank you for your comments.

now americans be sure to look for that socialist and terrorist under your beds tonight like your parents looked for that commie.

[MikeDu]

Who exactly is it who thinks the war HAS been 'worth it'? I mean, by what yardstick could they possibly be measuring the situation? That Bush's fantasy 'mushroom clouds' of his 2002 State of the Union speech have failed to burst over the continental U.S.? That those fantasy Iraqi 'Al Qaid training camps' have been shut down? I have news for you, you might as well say this war has kept Saddam from shooting down Santa Claus's sleigh. it's got as much basis in reality at the other fantasy 'accomplshments'.