Have you seen the Military Times poll showing a majority of troops oppose the war in Iraq?

Question

Military Times publishes 4 newpapers geared towards current and former US military personnel: Air Force Times, Army Times, Navy Times, & Marine Corps Times. This is not the "liberal media". These papers are sold on military bases and read regularly by active-duty military. They are highly respected, and most of the editors and writing staff are retired military.

Military Times recently polled active-duty military members on their attitudes about the war in Iraq. These are some results:

"For the first time, more troops disapprove of the president’s handling of the war than approve of it. Barely 1/3 of service members approve of the way the president is handling the war."

"...in this year’s poll only 41 percent of the military said the U.S. should have gone to war in Iraq in the first place, down from 65 percent in 2003."

To read the Air Force Times article on the full results of the poll, use this link:

http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2006/12/tns.troopspol06l1229/

In response to some questions...

I posted this because some people think it's impossible to support the troops while opposing the Iraq war. I'm active duty, and I think the Iraq war was badly conceived, badly planned, and badly managed from Day 1. I see how it is destroying our military without actually achieving our goals in the larger war against terrorism. In fact, it's making it more difficult for our nation to reach those goals. Many of my friends in the military feel the same way. The Military Times poll demonstrates this is the point of view of a majority of military members.

It's possible to oppose a policy while supporting those with the unfortunate task of carrying out that policy.

If your favorite ball team is being run by a lousy manager, and you publicly criticize that manager's awful decisions which are hurting the team, does that mean you want your team to lose??? Of course not! This is the same type of scenario, except lives are on the line.

In response to YR: This poll WAS a scientific poll, conducted in accordance with standard polling practices. As it says in the article, the margin of error on this year’s poll is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Answer 1

well bush wanted to be compared to lincoln, now at least part of that will be true.

during the war between the states there was a marvel at the bravery of the troops of the Army of the Potomac - and complete disgust with the utter ineptness of the commanders.

here the bravery is still with the troops, who do their best and the utter failure is with the commander in chief, who really is like a child playing with matches...

Answer 2

Why is this surprising? No one despises war more than a soldier. To most (not all, thank God) of you civilians, it's just a news story or a movie or a second-hand account. To us, it's reality, and a brutal reality at that.

No one prays for peace more than a soldier. So, your poll is not that surprising. Now, where's the poll that shows what they'd recommend doing next? They might oppose it, but they'll still fight the war, and they wouldn't want the job done half-way. Why? Because if they don't finish the mission, then that simply means someone else has to come back and do it for them. And no true soldier would willingly inflict that hell on another person.
What, you expected the poll would reveal that the average grunt is having fun times in Iraq/Afghanistan and would rather be over there than on R&R on a sunny beach with a cool drink in one hand and a cute young thing in the other arm?
They may not like the job (and neither do I), but at least they have the honor & integrity to do it properly.

Answer 3

This has been the case since the Korean War in the 50's. Look at what they go through.

They are initially told, "Here we go", then they sit and wait, listening to the sounds in the distance. Bordem sets in. Thinking of home, the wife, the children, hell even the chores.

Then when they are given a mission, they at times see their friends, comrades, and brothers in arms killed or injured. They don't always see or know why they just lost a friend, they just know that he or she is gone.

What would you think about the war, police action, or whatever they are describing this one to be?

Nick
[e-mail]

Answer 4

properly it became on line... so it must be authentic!! Are you extremely that stupid to ascertain some thing that another moron wrote in a weblog and interpret it as a actuality!! i'm genuinely ashamed that you're an American. have you ever been to conflict, served interior the militia, or hell, have you ever watched band of brothers. all of us strive against area through area jointly, and maximum individuals ought to take a bullet for our brothers in palms. we are all diverse people, of diverse races, of diverse religions, with diverse political views and we do not run round Iraq in finished chaos killing all and sundry with a diverse opinion. I rather doubt Tillman even adverse the conflict, if he did not go with to strive against and in all likelihood die, then why the hell ought to he have joined interior the first position? bypass lower back to you're little blogs pal and positioned up this crap the position different morons can examine it and inform you concepts precise you're, and grant their 0.5 baked conspiracy theories. i'm extremely quite inspired that you've been waiting to illustrate on your computer and kind some sentences, i ought to imagine that some one dumb sufficient to believe that bs ought to have some thing heavily incorrect with them mentally.

Answer 5

I think from the soldiers perspective it is more about doing their duty then is it persay right or wrong. The worst part must be the seperation from their family.

The only real question is what good are we doing that the media doesn't talk about because they don't like good news. All we ever hear is the negative.

Answer 6

No but of seen other polls where most troops are for the war. Weird how that works out.

What do you want us to say? OK your right now lets all pray for America to lose. Are you hoping that America loses? Do you pull for the insurgents? Whats your purpose in asking this?

Answer 7

From what I heard, those papers do indeed have an agenda. You just pointed it out.

Answer 8

Those aren't scientific polls. They're like online polls. They're meaningless.

Answer 9

YAWN, whatever.