Poll: Is U.S. doing enough to quell Iraqi fighting?
Washington (CNN) - Half the public says the U.S. doesn't have a responsibility to do something about escalating bloodshed in Iraq, according to a new national poll.
The CBS News/New York Times survey released Monday also indicates a plurality of Americans say President Barack Obama has had the appropriate response so far to the aggressive drive by radical Sunni militants in capturing city after city in northern and central Iraq as they march towards Baghdad.
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According to the poll, which was conducted over the weekend, 50% of those questioned say the U.S doesn't have a responsibility to do anything about the fighting, with 42% saying Washington does have a responsibility to get involved.
There's a partisan divide, with a majority of independents and Democrats saying the U.S. doesn't have a responsibility and a majority of Republicans disagreeing.
Latest CNN reporting on bloodshed in Iraq
The survey's release came as Secretary of State John Kerry, in Baghdad Monday, said that U.S. support for Iraq will be "intense" and "sustained," and will be effective if Iraqi leaders unite to face the militant threat.
President Obama's actions
Forty-one percent of those questioned say the President's response to the crisis has been appropriate, with nearly three in 10 saying Obama should do more and 22% saying he should do less. As expected, there's a wide partisan divide on that question, with a majority of Republicans saying the President should do more, and more than six in 10 Democrats saying Obama's had the right response.
The poll also indicates that 44% of Americans say the violence in Iraq will cause the threat of terrorism in the U.S. to rise, with half of those questioned saying it will stay the same.
The CBS News/New York Times poll was conducted June 20-22, with 1,009 adults nationwide questioned by telephone. The survey's overall sampling error is plus or minus three percentage points.
CNN Political Editor Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report
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Oh dear. A man wearing a ski-mask. Back under the bed I go ....
I see CNN when it is a positive for the President.. the headline does put his name ...so he doesn't get credit...
Trying to stabilize a country we shouldn't have gone to war with. Sounds really stupid to me for troops to be there for any reason. Empty the embassy and let them kill themselves off.
just confirms the obvious. this nation is officially non interventionist. we are not getting involved in a civil war nor should we
We already did enough for nine years. We freed them from a horrible dictator, only to have the Sunnis and Shiites start killing each other because of religion. I support helping the Iraqi Government, but they first need to reach out to the Sunnis before we give Malki any support. Personally, I feel Malki should resign. That is the best first step to resolve this conflict.
We should not send our kids back to Cheney's sewer. Monitor the situation and pick off the bad guys with drones.
Obamas plan is working as design; most of the Middle East is in flames and being taken over by Muslim terrorists; you know his buddies.
IMPORTANT: Does ISIS intend to strike INSIDE America like Bin Laden stated was his Orgs. PURPOSE ? OR, does ISIS wish to confine their influence in Mid East only ? Kinda like the question Cheney refused to address;Does Saddam & Bin Laden have the same goals re: America ?
Send the cowards Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz there and let them deal with it.
Democrats voted for the war, including the dems great white female hope, hilary clinton.
"And the question in my mind is how many additional American casualties is Saddam worth?" Cheney said then in response to a question.
"And the answer is not very damned many. So I think we got it right, both when we decided to expel him from Kuwait, but also when the president made the decision that we'd achieved our objectives and we were not going to go get bogged down in the problems of trying to take over and govern Iraq." Dick Cheney (1992)
No matter what your views are on Iraq, one truth is undeniable. The U.S. removed the murderous, psychopath (Saddam Hussein) who had been terrorizing his own citizens for decades and gave the people of Iraq a chance to choose a better life.
And what do they do? They collapse into a vicious civil war over ethnic disputes.
Personally, I don't care if in the end they all eliminate each other. Apparently Saddam Hussein was exactly the right person to keep Iraq "together".
Let this be a lesson to us just like Viet Nam, Somalia and Afghanistan should have been. If all these people want to do is fight each other, then go ahead and have at it. The trick for us is to find a way to manage the chaos so it does not disrupt the civilized world.
When we were there they couldn't wait until we left now because they are running scared and won't defend what is theirs they are whining for us to come back I say let them loose it might send the correct message to Afghanistan .....
And just what do these repubs want the president to do? The old "lets just bomb'em" strategy won't work. Let's thump our chests a little harder won't work. But, enought with the grandstanding. There's only one solution and the country doesn't have the stomach to do it. Therefore, the Iraqis are on their own.
WE had out Civil War. They can have theirs. We already handed them the keys after offering thousands of our armed forces and spending trillion$.. What we NEED is to butt out!
It does not matter what the US does. We may offer the lives of our soldiers, our money, our weapons to any of the factions. They are not going to like or love us, they will use us. Our government is still insisting in a democratic Iraq. That will not happen until their society and their people mature, until the moderate forces are stronger than those who want to impose the sharia law for example. We should get out of there and keep our world, the Americas and Europe in peace and prosperity.
the 47% of the USA that does not pay taxes are complaining the country is not doing enough for Iraq- The vast majority of those living in Iraq does not want the help of the USA -The majority of those living in the USA that DOES pay taxes do not want to contribute any more money and lives for that mess of a country- easy solution- Keep Out
Both Great Britain and the US have a responsibility in the middle east not just Iraq, neither can do anything at this point. First the internal issues between Shiite and Sunni will be settled then both will turn on Europe and the US. Until now the Muslim extremists have not had nuclear capability that will change under our current administration and so will a great portion of the earth.
YES! We are doing more than enough. The correct amount to do is TO STAY OUT OF IRAQ!
Why are we the ones that need to police the world? We are not going to solve it. I don't want to pay with more lives. Why doesn't the Saudis fight this battle. They have a lot of money and they know the language. The know their costumes. It is just incomprehensible to me, that we keep doing the same thing. Those who want us to intervene more, why don't they go their themselves or send their childern?
I'm tired of babysitting, how about you guys?
Nothing will make a difference in a country that has such strong sectarian beliefs. That way of thinking is ingrained in every Iraqi!
Who cares? If they mess with the U.S. bomb them but pretty much let the Muslims and the Arabs straiten out their world.
Lynda/Minnesota says:
June 23, 2014 12:24 pm at 12:24 pm
Oh dear. A man wearing a ski-mask. Back under the bed I go ….
☺️☺️☺️😀😀 Me too!!!
It pains me to say this but we destabilized Iraq by taking out Saddam Hussein. That tyrant did control the tribes and actually made Iraq one of the most westernized places in the middle east.
We need to help the secular people, while exterminating the extremists, lots of air power from afar.