While most Americans still think the war in Iraq was a mistake, polls show a slight boost in support for the war after American bombs killed the Iraqi al Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. A new CNN poll found that 43 percent of respondents said the war is going either very or moderately well, up from 38 percent in a March poll. Fifty-four percent said they still believe the war is going either very badly or moderately badly, down from 60 percent in March. And 55 percent said they believe the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 was a mistake--a figure which has not changed since April.
The poll also suggests that Americans still split on whether to withdraw American troops: of those surveyed, 18 percent said they want U.S. forces brought home now, and 29 percent said they want to see them out of Iraq within a year. Forty-two percent said the troops should be withdrawn eventually, but take as many years as necessary to turn control over to the Iraqis, and 6 percent said we should dispatch more troops.
After allegations that U.S. Marines may have intentionally engaged in a massacre of unarmed Iraqi civilians, the number of respondents who said American actions in Iraq are "morally justified" dropped slightly, to 45 percent from 47 percent in a March poll.
The number of people who believe U.S. conduct is not morally justified was 47 percent, down from 50 percent from the previous poll. And 27 percent said U.S. troops are very likely to have committed war crimes in Iraq, while 30 percent consider the prospect fairly likely and 37 percent call that unlikely.
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