(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Many adults in the United States are against their federal government’s decision to launch the coalition effort, according to a poll by Knowledge Networks released by the Associated Press and Yahoo. 68 per cent of respondents oppose the war in Iraq, and 54 per cent think sending more troops has not helped stabilize the situation there.

The coalition effort against Saddam Hussein’s regime was launched in March 2003. At least 3,900 American soldiers have died during the military operation, and 28,700 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 September, commander of the Multi-National Force - Iraq David Petraeus and U.S. ambassador in Iraq Ryan Crocker provided a comprehensive assessment of the situation in Iraq to the U.S. Congress. In addition, U.S. president George W. Bush said U.S. forces in Iraq would be reduced by 5,700 troops in December, and announced the possibility of a further decrease in July 2008.

On Dec. 21, U.S. defence secretary Robert Gates discussed the current state of affairs, saying, "If we were to continue the withdrawals at the level of the first half of the year, if the conditions permitted that, then that would bring us down by the end of the administration to about 10 brigade combat teams. But, again, I just want to stress that all of this is conditions-based and it will depend very much on the analysis and recommendations that the senior military commanders and advisors to the president make in March."

Polling Data

Do you favour or oppose the war in Iraq?

As you may know, this year additional U.S. troops were sent to Iraq. Do you think sending more troops to Iraq has helped stabilize the situation there, or not?

Source: Knowledge Networks / Associated Press / Yahoo
Methodology: Online interviews with 1,821 American adults, conducted from Dec. 14 to Dec. 20, 2007. Margin of error is 2.3 per cent.

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