slowly, but surely americans come to their senses
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BY CRAIG GORDON
Newsday Washington Bureau
April 13, 2006, 10:14 AM EDT
WASHINGTON -- As a growing chorus of former generals criticizes the Iraq war and fresh questions emerge over flawed intelligence, a new poll shows that nearly half the U.S. public supports a possible military strike to stop Iran's nuclear program but most don't trust President George W. Bush to lead it.
The Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll suggests many Americans are worried about the dangers of a nuclear-armed Iran. At the same time, a majority doubted Bush's ability to make the right decision about whether to go to war with Iran -- a reflection of the public's growing lack of confidence in Bush's leadership in national security, once his strongest suit.
Such misgivings could dramatically complicate Bush's ability to rally the nation behind a possible confrontration with Iran, but Bush insists he is pursuing diplomacy to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions.
Iran announced Tuesday it had enriched uranium to new levels for the first time, crossing a significant threshold needed in the production of nuclear weapons, which Iran denies it is seeking.
Yet many Americans believe that is a foregone conclusion, with six in 10 saying Iran eventually will get a nuclear weapon.
Nearly half of all respondents -- 48 percent -- say they would support taking military action against Iran if it continues to produce material that can be used for nuclear weapons. But the country appeared divided on the issue, as four in 10 oppose it.
The poll of 1,357 respondents was taken from April 8 to April 11 and has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 3 percentage points.
The growing tension over Iran comes as Bush faces a fresh round of criticism over his actions regarding Iraq -- with the most notable attacks in recent weeks coming from an unlikely quarter, the ranks of retired military brass.
A fourth general yesterday added his voice to others who have criticized the Bush administration's failure to send enough to troops to Iraq and called for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's resignation.
Maj. Gen. John Batiste, who commanded the 1st Infantry Division in Iraq, also criticized Rumsfeld's management style. "We need a leader who understands teamwork, a leader who knows how to build teams, a leader that does it without intimidation," he said on CNN.
Also yesterday, retired Col. Larry Wilkerson said that Rumsfeld avoided notifying the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Richard Myers, about his moves in Iraq by "sending orders directly to the field." Wilkerson, a former chief of staff to then-Secretary of State Colin Powell, said Myers and his then-vice chairman Gen. Peter Pace would have to scramble to figure out Rumsfeld's orders.
But Pace -- now chairman -- defended Rumsfeld, saying retired generals should have spoken up while they still wore the uniform.
The generals' criticism also reflects the deep public concern about the Iraq war, with almost six in 10 respondents in this poll saying they don't think the war was worth it and a similar number skeptical of Bush's claims of U.S. progress there.
Outside experts said it is growing increasingly difficult for Bush to rebound from his problems in Iraq, simply because he would need some relatively big accomplishment there, and not just a recent series of speeches, to restore public confidence in his abilities.
Should Bush face the need to use military action against Iran, analysts said he would likely get at least a short-term boost in public opinion -- as he did when the Iraq war started.
Also yesterday, the White House was once again on the defensive over Bush's claims about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The Washington Post reported Bush claimed in May 2003 that a pair of trailers seized in Iraq were mobile bio-weapons labs, even though a U.S. intelligence report completed two days before Bush spoke disputed that.
The White House said yesterday Bush was merely relying on a report by the CIA and Defense Intelligence Agency that the trailers were in fact weapons labs.
Washington Bureau Chief Timothy M. Phelps contributed to this story.
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