NEW YORK Two separate Gallup polls, detailed today in the organization's weekly report, show that Americans favor withdrawing some or all U.S. troops from Iraq.

Perhaps most revealing was a new poll which asked 1,007 Americans, "If you could talk with President Bush for 15 minutes about the situation in Iraq, what would you, personally, advise him to do?" The poll taken in late August found that 41% said they would tell him to pull troops out of Iraq and end our involvement there.

Far behind in second place (18%) was to finish what we started or be more aggressive. Another 7% advised coming up with an exit strategy.

A separate Gallup poll found that 53% of Americans favor a reduction of U.S. troops in Iraq. This includes 26% who prefer withdrawing all troops.

In the same survey, only 40% of Americans approve, while 59% disapprove of the way Bush is handling Iraq. Fifty-three percent of Americans think going to war in Iraq was a mistake, similar to the 54% who said this in early August.
E&P Staff (letters@editorandpublisher.com)

Commentary:

Bush is coming off of a five week vacation-- a few days of which were during a major hurricane. Wouldn't it be nice if all our soldiers could come home and have five week vacations?

The cornerstone of Bush's foreign policy is "Iraq" and it appears beyond repair. Katrina will take Iraq and Ms. Sheehan off of the front pages for a very long time. What we'll see is Bush on TV every day and every night as the war media tries to repair his tattered reputation. Bungling the war in Iraq, bungling foreign policy, bungling our budget and bungling disaster relief. It's all in a days work for GW.

One has to wonder if he knows what success feels like.