New Poll suggests muting war criticism

The Washington Post has an article concerning a poll about Vice President Cheney’s recent suggestion that criticism of the administration's war policies was itself becoming a hindrance to the war effort. Democrats had hinted that Cheney was raising the ante in the noisy dialogue concerning the war when he noted that insurgents were heartened by anti-war statements in the US media, implying that opposition to the war puts our men on the ground in Iraq in further peril. Recent polls showing increased opposition to the war caused some media observers to infer that most Americans might regard Cheney’s remarks as hitting below the belt

Surprisingly, the Post now writes that “a new poll indicates most Americans are sympathetic to Cheney's point.” The Post’s article linked above says that “70% of people surveyed said that criticism of the war by Democratic senators hurts troop morale -- with 44 percent saying morale is hurt ‘a lot,’ according to a poll taken by RT Strategies. Even self-identified Democrats agree: 55 percent believe criticism hurts morale, while 21 percent say it helps morale.”

If accurate, this poll would belie the recent Op-Ed estimates that a “tipping point” in American opinion has been reached where support across the board for the Iraq war was diminishing rapidly. However much a large part of the American public now believes the war may have been a mistake based on grossly inaccurate intelligence, the R T Strategies poll may indicate that a similar majority appears to believe that an early exit from this dreary conflict without some sort of viable Iraqi political/military governance firmly in place would also be a mistake.

The upcoming elections in Iraq December 15th should be the next step demonstrating that the Iraqis are making progress forming a government along with an Iraqi military that can protect that government. However, infighting and messy ethnic backstabbing may continue after the upcoming elections, and there is an end to the patience of the American public with the overall ineffective Bush management of our civilian presence in Iraq.

The RT Strategies poll should keep centrist Democrats like Hillary Clinton and even the wobbly Joe Biden from making a Murtha-like call for rapid withdrawal, at least until the early months of 2006. But if the insurrection continues to bubble and simmer, the mid-term elections next November may become a belated referendum on staying the course.

And if the Democrats make electoral gains next Fall, the stage will be set for a complete reevaluation of America’s foreign relations in the 2008 election for President, and perhaps at that time, a ”tipping point” might be in the works.