The Daily Background

From the new NYT/CBS poll, 30% of Americans approve of the the job Bush is doing overall, and only 23% approve of his handling of Iraq. Most interestingly are people’s opinions on the progress (or lack thereof) of the so-called “surge” in Iraq:

A large majority of the public — 76 percent, including a majority of Republicans — say that the additional American troops sent to Iraq this year by Mr. Bush have either had no impact or are making things worse there. Twenty percent think the troop increase is improving the situation in Iraq.

A majority of Americans continue to support a timetable for withdrawal. Sixty-three percent say the United States should set a date for withdrawing troops from Iraq sometime in 2008.

Recently British officials have said that the “surge” is failing at its goal of reducing violence. In addition, today the Washington Post reported on newly leaked statistics from Iraqi officials that paint a damning picture of how much violence is increasing since the “surge” began:

In the 14 weeks preceding the start of the plan on Feb. 14, at least 821 people died in 11 attacks — typically suicide car bombings — that killed more than 20 people at a time, according to a Washington Post analysis. There have been at least 20 such attacks in the 14 weeks since the start of the plan, causing a death toll of at least 1,098, the analysis showed.
[…]
Aggregate figures for Baghdad and eight other provinces also show recent increases: In January, 360 bodies were found; in February, 400; in March, 451; in April, 421; and from May 1 to 22, 443.

As I said earlier today about this, it doesn’t take a genius to understand that the surge is not working.

Filed under: Z-TDB Blog