A Surge of Disapproval

As Bush proposes chasing his losses in Iraq with a surge of a few tens of thousands of troops to keep order in Baghdad, an important and little-noticed shift has taken place in the opinion of those doing the fighting:

For the first time, more troops disapprove of the president’s han dling of the war than approve of it. Barely one-third of service members approve of the way the president is handling the war, ac cording to the 2006 Military Times Poll.

When the military was feeling most optimistic about the war — in 2004 — 83 percent of poll re spondents thought success in Iraq was likely. This year, that number has shrunk to 50 percent.

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