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
"100,000 American Troops for 100 years ought to get 'er done"-Cheney.
and the really big question is..... has obama learned anything from this nightmare? as he now contemplates doing the very same thing in afghanistan, will he learn from his mistakes or will he continue to make the same mistakes over and over and over the way he has now done for nearly 6 years. my money is on him not learning anything.
We must use airstrikes.... Now! Any President, any Administration must deal with things in Real time and what will happen by those actions in the near future......That being said..... If ISIS takes over what do you think will happen? A terrorist state planning and unleashing attacks against Israel & the U.S.A This could lead to WWIII......
@gen Patton, who is improbably turning in his grave thanks to bush and cheney . . . . That's Barack with a "c"!
swagmaster
The amount arrogance and ignorance in these comments is astounding. Dehumanizing an entire nation of people and failing to see that the current instability in Iraq is a direct result of meddling in the region is testament to why Americans are often viewed as being idiots.
What do you think happens when you topple a stable regime? It creates a power vacuum. If you're going to overthrow an established government, you damn well better govern the region yourself. These sectarian problems, while having existed for a long time, did not escalate until after our supervision of the Iraqi government ended. Malaki, the Prime Moron of Iraq, began his oppression towards Sunni's after we turned our backs.
We created this mess. We created it when we invaded Iraq. We created it after we left. It's our damn mess and it is our responsibility to clean it up because, clearly, the Iraqi's are too disorganized to stand up to an efficient mercenary army.
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So when do YOU leave for Iraq?
Most Americans will never forget the largest mistake in our history which was the war we started there and, of course, most sane Americans do not want to get involved in that way again. This poll reflects that, however, the MSM will continue to degrade our President and his decisions and also give airtime to the likes of Cheney who should be behind bars. Talk about being treasonous and unpatriotic. Will this President EVER get any credit for anything???
jacknyd
Poll: Is U.S. doing enough to quell Iraqi fighting?
The liberals will tell you we should not be there. However they would turn their backs on anyone. We should not had gone in the 1st place, But since we did we are committed to helping these people.
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So when do YOU leave for Iraq?
"Who, in their right mind would think it could stop now."
I suspect the idea is that we nuke 'em all and let the "fallout" fall where it may.
@FLIndy
Most Americans will never forget the largest mistake in our history which was the war we started there and, of course, most sane Americans do not want to get involved in that way again.
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Obviously you have never heard of Lyndon Johnson, the Gulf of Tonkin Incident or Viet Nam. IIRC we lost over 50,000 of our people there.
FLIndy says:
June 23, 2014 03:45 pm at 3:45 pm
Most Americans will never forget the largest mistake in our history which was the war we started there and, of course, most sane Americans do not want to get involved in that way again. This poll reflects that, however, the MSM will continue to degrade our President and his decisions and also give airtime to the likes of Cheney who should be behind bars. Talk about being treasonous and unpatriotic. Will this President EVER get any credit for anything???
Sure he will. High unemployment, high gas prices, slow response to Hurricane Katrina, the economy collapsing basically anything bad in the past 25 years. Any more questions??
Btw, I agree with you, I'm just being facetious.
Malory Archer says:
June 23, 2014 03:44 pm at 3:44 pm
swagmaster
The amount arrogance and ignorance in these comments is astounding. Dehumanizing an entire nation of people and failing to see that the current instability in Iraq is a direct result of meddling in the region is testament to why Americans are often viewed as being idiots.
What do you think happens when you topple a stable regime? It creates a power vacuum. If you’re going to overthrow an established government, you damn well better govern the region yourself. These sectarian problems, while having existed for a long time, did not escalate until after our supervision of the Iraqi government ended. Malaki, the Prime Moron of Iraq, began his oppression towards Sunni’s after we turned our backs.
We created this mess. We created it when we invaded Iraq. We created it after we left. It’s our damn mess and it is our responsibility to clean it up because, clearly, the Iraqi’s are too disorganized to stand up to an efficient mercenary army
So when do YOU leave for Iraq?
👏👏 Good one Mallory!!
I personally want us to do more, because I want to do more, and the U.S. is able, but here is what I have done; "I prayed that G_d would surround Baghdad with water so that no harm could get to them, and I prayed ISIL would retreat to northern Iraq/ openland of southern Syria, " ( sorry Jordan, i know you are scared) "and settle down there peaceably by farming the land, may G_d provide the water. "
"Will this President EVER get any credit for anything???"
Well ... just between you and I ... no, probably not. But he will get all the blame. Fact is, it never mattered what he did or didn't do; he was going to be treated the same. After awhile, I started tuning it all out. GOPerville that is. Eventually even they will start eating their own. Which is why congress has sat on its collective thumbs for the past 5.5 years. They've ALL been willing to put their woes on this one president's shoulder. They're nothing more than bunch of ... well, you get the picture.
Obozo sent the second most worthless Secretary of State we ever have had to tell them that Obama is unhappy with them. I am sure he will stop in France on the way back for a latte. In the meantime we need the Excel pipeline.
"@Sniffit-Tell it to H. Clinton, who stated it was Bush who was responsible for the withdraw and ending the war.
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I suppose that you've completely forgotten about The Surge in Iraq. We had well over 100,000 boots on the ground when Obama was first sworn in. I find your alternate histories fascinating. "
Setting aside that I don't quite agree with his characterization of what HRC has said, I find his idea that I care what HRC thinks on the issue very fascinating as well...as if it somehow makes me a hypocrite for holding a different opinion than her even though I support her and agree with her on a lot of things. Newsflash: you can disagree with people and still support them as your leaders. Purity tests are for drinking water.
I personally want us to do more, because I want to do more, and the U.S. is able, but here is what I have done; "I prayed that G_d would surround Baghdad with water so that no harm could get to them, and I prayed ISIL would retreat to northern Iraq/ openland of southern Syria, " ( sorry Jordan, i know you are scared) "and settle down there peaceably by farming the land, may G_d provide the water. " and Jesus assured me that He was moving things there near Baghdad to push ISIL back all the way to the starting point in Syria, where they began, and when they are there, the whole area they came down will be green, and fertile again, and peaceful. After hearing this, I asked for ISIL people to have a place to live to the northof Iraq where they could be peaceable and farm, which is where I got the image listed above. Thank you, U.S. for doing whatever you can to help! amen!
"Purity tests are for drinking water..."
LOL. Good luck finding "pure" water anymore. 🙁
@ just saying, Obama followed the SOFA agreement Bush negotiated. Malaki was under no obligation to negotiate another one, since he felt he had all the pieces in place. What were we supposed to do, force him at gunpoint to sign another one? Unlike Bush/Cheney, Obama felt obligated to follow through on his promise to not have us IRAQ any longer than needed. Do you recall any groundswell of support for signing another SOFA agreement 3 years ago? I certainly don't. The McCain-type notion that we needed to keep forces in place would never have made it out of committee, so quit trying to re-write history. There was no appetite for keeping forces in Iraq, and it has nothing to do with Obama, it has everything to do with the mistakes Bush/Cheney made at the front end of this war when they were lying through their teeth to us as to how this war would actually pay for itself.
@just asking
and the really big question is..... has obama learned anything from this nightmare?
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Yes he learned much from Bush's fiasco. As Obama promised (and fulfilled), he is not going to pull another "Bush" and get 4000 US troops and 100,000 others killed for no reason invading the wrong country chasing imaginary WMD and Al Quaeda (who is there now as a result).
Wake Up People! Many Rivers to cross.....
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!!!
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Rather obvious, that photo CNN chose to use. I'm waiting for the right to insist we bring back color coded threat levels. Good grief. You'd think we got past all this doom and gloom by now. Guess not.
It will be very interesting to see how this ISIS crisis will play out in the mid-terms. Republicans pushing for another war in Iraq will win over a lot of votes, that's for sure.
@Amazed
@FLIndy
Most Americans will never forget the largest mistake in our history which was the war we started there and, of course, most sane Americans do not want to get involved in that way again.
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Obviously you have never heard of Lyndon Johnson, the Gulf of Tonkin Incident or Viet Nam. IIRC we lost over 50,000 of our people there.
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Debatable. At least in Viet Nam, there really were communist troops in the North. Bush invaded the wrong country where there were no Al Qaeda and no WMD. In fact he made Al Qaeda set up camp in Iraq in reaction to our invasion.
@just saying: "bush handed obama an iraq that held elections and was relatively peaceful. bush had done all the work, signed the deal to leave, etc. all the messiah had to do was to negotiate a status of forces agreement. that was it. leave enough guys there to ensure this very thing wouldn't happen because the military had warned it could. but nooooo, that little task wasn't even doable for the great campaign fund rasier in chief. his incompetence is rearing its ugly head once again. electiong incompetent idiots to the white house has consequences people."
It was the Iraqi government that put the kabosh on extending the SOFA.
@Rudy-I never said military aid, I said aid. There is a big difference. What does the surge have to do with Clinton`s statement about the troop withdraw? Hmm, nothing. On this issue the Dems and Repubs are flip floppin` big time.
Lynda/Minnesota says:
June 23, 2014 04:20 pm at 4:20 pm
Wake Up People! Many Rivers to cross…..
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!!!
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Rather obvious, that photo CNN chose to use. I’m waiting for the right to insist we bring back color coded threat levels. Good grief. You’d think we got past all this doom and gloom by now. Guess not.
Oh please not the threat levels again. We must have doom and gloom, what better way to prove to the nation that they need a big war mongering Republikkkan back in the WH. After all, they may have no plans to help the regular people but they must help the rich.