Polls & Research

Seven-in-Ten Americans Would Exit Iraq in 2008

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Many adults in the United States believe their government should implement two of the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group, according to a poll by Knowledge Networks for the Program on International Policy Attitudes. 73 per cent of respondents support withdrawing almost all U.S. combat troops from Iraq by early next year.

In addition, 71 per cent of respondents want U.S. president George W. Bush to publicly state that the U.S. does not seek permanent military bases in Iraq, and 49 per cent believe his administration should not interfere if the Iraqi government decides to offer amnesty to insurgents if they lay down their arms—even if the insurgents attacked U.S. troops.

The coalition effort against Saddam Hussein's regime was launched in March 2003. At least 3,013 American soldiers have died during the military operation, and more than 22,700 troops have been wounded in action.

In December 2005, Iraqi voters renewed their National Assembly. In May 2006, Shiite United Iraqi Alliance member Nouri al-Maliki officially took over as prime minister.

In December 2006, the Iraq Study Group—a bipartisan panel of experts—presented its findings on how to deal with the situation in Iraq. The ten members called for a quicker process to train Iraqi forces, engaging with Iran and Syria in a dialogue aimed at stabilizing Iraq, and pulling back U.S. combat troops by early 2008.

On Jan. 4, Bush discussed the next steps in Iraq, declaring, "I'll be ready to outline a strategy that will help the Iraqis achieve the objective of a country that can govern, sustain and defend itself sometime next week; I've still got consultations to go through. Whatever decision I make, though, will be all aimed at achieving our objective."

Polling Data

As you may know, the Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan commission created by Congress, recently released a report proposing a series of steps to address the situation in Iraq. Here are three of its recommendations. Please indicate whether you favour or oppose each one.