Poll: World says withdraw troops from Iraq

The Bush Administration's Iraq policy is about as popular with the rest of the world as it is here, and that's the bad news. Only 25% of the world says that the U.S. should stick it out until 'victory", however the word is currently being defined these days. It's pretty clear that our allies' opinions don't matter to the Decider, as they are merely tools to exploit and deceive, but it is interesting to note that about 2/3 majorities in the three countries risking the most on Bush's optimism want out within a year.

Now, I can already hear the neocons sputtering on about how the world owes us, and we shouldn't care what they think anyway because they aren't as strong as us. But one of the vague "plans" on the back burner to get out of Iraq is to get the rest of the world to pitch in and help us out. You know, those weak countries that don't matter and are cowardly appeasers. It would seem by this poll that getting any new countries in on the amazing "success" in Iraq will be a tough sell. With two wars going, a third being planned with Iran, and staggering military commitments around the globe, the U.S. just can't bully like it used to. And with $12 billion a week going down the drain known as Iraq, we can't really afford to bribe like we used to, either. With Bush's State Department doing its best to push away any allies that basically won't turn their nation's military and treasury over to the U.S, we will have a hard time "persuading" countries to join the "victory train".

Another interesting point from the article: 24% of Americans want us out of Iraq immediately.

Poll says world wants troops out of Iraq

LONDON (Reuters) - More than two thirds of people around the world think American-led forces should pull out of Iraq within a year, according to a poll published on Friday by the BBC's international service.
The BBC World Service poll, which questioned 23,000 people in 22 countries, also found that only a quarter of respondents thought foreign troops should stay in Iraq until the security situation improves.

Almost two thirds (61 percent) of Americans who were asked said they thought their forces should leave Iraq within a year, with 24 percent saying they should get out immediately.
Only around a third of Americans say forces should stay until security improves, according to the poll conducted by pollsters GlobeScan and the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland between May 29 and July 26. The United States has around 160,000 soldiers in Iraq.
Other members of the U.S.-led coalition also had majorities wanting forces out within a year -- 65 percent of Britons, 63 percent of South Koreans and 63 percent of Australians.
U.S. President George W. Bush visited Iraq on Monday and has this week raised the possibility of reducing American troop numbers if security conditions improve.
Britain has reduced its troop numbers to around 5,000 and says its forces will remain in Iraq as long as they are needed.
But GlobeScan president Doug Miller said the poll showed most people would favour a timetable for withdrawal.
"The weight of global public opinion, and indeed American opinion, is opposed to the Bush administration's current policy of letting security conditions in Iraq dictate the timing of U.S. troop withdrawal," he said in a statement.

This article: http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=1430082007