President Bush just finished up his speech today ratcheting up the pressure on Congress to do what he wants them to do (give him a war funding bill with no withdrawal timeline), rather than what the Antiwar Majority of Americans wants him to do (give him a funding bill with such a timeline).
Here's one of Bush's key quotes: "Families gathered here understand that our troops want to finish the job."
But is there a single scrap of evidence that this is true? Is there a single scrap of evidence that says that a majority of the troops want to stay in Iraq until the job is "finished," whatever that means? The only poll that I've seen that comes close to a real and comprehensive effort to measure troops' attitudes on such questions was the annual Army Times poll, which was released last December. While for various reasons it's an imperfect guide to what the troops in Iraq want, it's certainly closer to a real and scientific effort to measure it than I've seen elsewhere.
It suggests that the troops are ambiguous on this question, finding that only half thought the U.S. can succeed -- meaning that only half thought the job could be finished, let alone that they want to finish it. The other half, meanwhile, didn't think the "job" could be finished or didn't have an opinion on whether it could.
Meanwhile, the poll also found pessimism among the troops about Bush's leadership. It found that only 38% thought that there should be more troops in Iraq -- in other words, that a minority supported the President's "surge" policy. And it found that for the first time, more troops disapproved of Bush's Iraq performance than approved of it. The poll is here -- and keep in mind that these numbers reflect where the troops' attitudes were four months ago.
So how the heck do we know that the troops want to stay as long as it takes to "finish the job"? Does anyone know if there are any better numbers out there than this poll? I haven't seen anything.
http://electioncentral.tpmcafe.com/blog/electioncentral/2007/apr/16/bush_baselessly_asserts_that_troops_want_to_stay_in_iraq