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Three Years In, Public Faith Flags

Council on Foreign Relations

Updated: March 20, 2006
Prepared by: cfr.org editorial staff

On the third anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion and the fall of Saddam Hussein's brutal regime, peace remains elusive. Sectarian fighting looks increasingly like civil war and politicians have failed to build a government out of the successful December elections. These factors have led to a growing pessimism among the American public, according to a new Pew Center poll.

Across the board, polls show a disapproval of the president and a waning support for the war (PollingReport.com). Even Bush's new National Security Strategy, which calls for renewed emphasis on democracy promotion, has garnered bipartisan criticism (NYT). In an effort to bolster support, the commander-in-chief is giving a series of speeches (Newsweek). In his anniversary remarks, the president argued the U.S. strategy is working despite escalating violence and former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's warning that civil war has already started (BBC). Experts say President Bush will be hard-pressed to reverse the downward trend of public approval, which as John Mueller writes in Foreign Affairs, is a predicament not unique to Iraq.

Bush has reasserted that by helping establish a stable, democratic Iraq, the United States will deny terrorists a safe haven. But so far, the war has had a "clearly negative" impact on U.S. foreign policy, says Richard Haass, CFR president and head of policy planning at the State Department at the outbreak of the war. Haass tells cfr.org's Bernard Gwertzman the war has weakened the United States both militarily and diplomatically in dealing with crises involving Iran and North Korea.

Read the rest of this article is available on the cfr.org website.

Copyright 2006 by the Council on Foreign Relations. This material is republished on GlobalSecurity.org with specific permission from the cfr.org. Reprint and republication questions for this article should be forwarded to cfr.org.