Bush's re-election prospects hang on Iraq

[T_i_B]

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=503116

A year to the day after going to war to topple Saddam Hussein, President George Bush is politically weaker at home, widely disliked abroad, and struggling to hold together the fraying "coalition of the willing" which now occupies Iraq.

As he begins a re-election campaign in which Iraq is a key issue, Mr Bush leads a country where - unlike many countries in Europe and beyond - a slim majority of the population believe the war was justified and has made the United States and the world a safer place.

That majority has shrunk from the 70 per cent level of March 2003 to little more than 50 per cent today, and the President's approval rating has followed a similar path. To a large extent, Mr Bush's electoral prospects are now prisoner of what happens in Iraq.

A continuation of the violence and an increase in United States casualties could tip the scales against him. But a visible improvement in security, an improving Iraqi economy and a smooth transfer of power by the 30 June deadline could be decisive in securing a second term at the White House.

[ugarte]

1. In other words, Bush's prospects

hang on the Grand Ayatollah Al-Sistani.

Sweet dreams, Rove.

[The Backlash Cometh]

2. My prediction:

If his re-election relies on Iraq, you're going to see the coalition of the willing jumping ship. Without foreign support, Bush is toast.

[Piperay]

3. "improvement in security, an improving Iraqi economy

and a smooth transfer of power"...looks like we will have a new President in Kerry come November cause I can't see there is any way in hell chimp can achieve any of that.