According to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll, a clear majority of Americans believe the war in Afghanistan has largely been a waste of time, and a simple majority believe we should have come home yesterday.
Sixty percent of Americans say the war in Afghanistan has not been not worth fighting and just 30 percent believe the Afghan public supports the U.S. mission there — marking the sour state of attitudes on the war even before the shooting rampage allegedly by a U.S. soldier this weekend.
Indeed a majority in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll, 54 percent, say the United States should withdraw its forces from Afghanistan without completing its current effort to train Afghan forces to become self-sufficient.
Given today's events, wherein a U.S. soldier murdered 16 civilians including 9 children and 3 women, I'd say the timing of this poll is impeccable.
While the Republican presidential candidates and Fox News will probably criticize the president for apologizing to Afghanistan for the incident, I believe they're making a big mistake in doing so. I believe they're mistaken to believe equating withdrawal from Afghanistan to "surrendering" will resonate with the electorate. And they're making an even bigger mistake by thinking Americans support their warmongering over Iran.
Americans have had enough war. We're done. It's over. We don't want any more. Every poll you can find says a majority of Americans, including self-identified Republicans, believe we've made enough messes to last us a while. And if you doubt the sentiment among the Right, just observe the wild applause Ron Paul receives at Republican debates when he says we should bring the troops home and "mind our own business."
That's not to say Americans are beginning to learn toward strict isolationism, however I do believe it says the American voting public will side with President Obama for abstaining if the Israelis decide to unilaterally attack Iran.