American troops want swift pull-out from Iraq

American troops want swift pull-out from Iraq
By Demetri Sevastopulo and Edward Alden in Washington
Published: February 28 2006 19:04 | Last updated: March 1 2006 15:21. Copyright Financial Times

Most American troops in Iraq believe the US should withdraw within the next year, according to the first poll of US military personnel there.

President George W. Bush, whose overall approval rating fell to a new low of 34 per cent this week, has repeatedly said the US would finish the mission in Iraq.

But a Zogby International/Le Moyne College poll found that only 23 per cent of US troops believed they should stay “as long as they are needed”.

Seventy-two per cent said the US should withdraw within 12 months, and 29 per cent said they should pull out immediately.

Meanwhile, a CBS News poll this week recorded another record low for the president – only 30 per cent of respondents approved of his handling of Iraq.

John Zogby, president of Zogby International, said US commanders in Iraq unofficially gave approval for the poll of 944 respondents to take place. It took place before last week’s bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra.

Although Mr Bush has acknowledged that Iraq played no role in September 11, 85 per cent of the troops said the US mission was mainly “to retaliate for Saddam’s role in the 9/11 attacks”.

The poll revealed stark differences between regular and reserve troops; 49 per cent of reservists and 43 per cent of the National Guard said the US should pull out immediately, against 9 per cent of marines.

Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, said the poll figures were “not borne out in recruiting and retention statistics”. While Mr Bush insists progress is being made in Iraq, US intelligence and military officials increasingly fear a civil war. General Michael Maples, director of the Pentagon’s Defence Intelligence Agency, told a Senate hearing on Tuesday: “We’re also in a very tenuous situation right now.”

Michael O’Hanlon, defence analyst at the liberal Brookings Institution, suggested that the Zogby poll may not accurately capture the mood of US troops based on his conversations with military officers. He pointed out that military retention rates - the rate at which troops who have fulfilled their committment to the military re-enlist - were above 100 per cent for most units, suggesting that troops were not disaffected by the mission in Iraq.