Poll: U.S. Public Generally Backs Obama on Iraq, Afghanistan

Most Americans Want U.S. to Pull Out of Iraq, but Stay Committed to Afghanistan
By Michael A. Fletcher and Jon Cohen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, December 15, 2008

Americans are more upbeat about U.S. prospects in Iraq than at any time in the past five years, but nearly two thirds continue to believe the war is not worth fighting and 70 percent say President-elect Barack Obama should fulfill his campaign promise to withdraw U.S. forces from the country within 16 months, according to the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Meanwhile, most Americans support the war in Afghanistan and a slim majority say the conflict there is essential to battling global terrorism, the poll found. Yet, a majority of Americans also believe that the U.S. military action there has been unsuccessful.

Public perceptions of the two wars appear to largely dovetail with the views expressed by Obama, who has promised to begin withdrawing most combat troops from Iraq shortly after he takes office on Jan. 20. Obama has advocated shifting more U.S. troops from Iraq to Afghanistan, where the U.S.-led coalition has been struggling to quell resurgent Taliban and al Qaeda forces.

Over the weekend, President Bush made a surprise visit to Baghdad, where he met with Iraqi leaders about the recently completed security agreement, which calls for the withdrawal of U.S. forces by the end of 2011. Bush's visit was aimed in part at highlighting vastly improved security conditions in Iraq since he ordered additional U.S. troops there nearly two years ago. But that symbolic moment was largely overshadowed by an incident where an Iraqi television journalist, angry about the U.S. invasion, threw two shoes at Bush during a news conference.

(More here.)