Disapproval for Bush Climbs

According to the latest AP Poll, the Shrublet's disapproval rating stands at 71% regarding his handling of Iraq. The poll also indicated a skepticism that a victory in Iraq is possible.

The latest AP-Ipsos poll, taken as a bipartisan commission was releasing its recommendations for a new course in Iraq, found that just 27 percent of Americans approved of Bush's handling of Iraq, down from his previous low of 31 percent in November.

Still, it is mind-boggling to conceive that one in four Americans continues to approve the failed war effort which has produced casualties and chaos, not to mention an undeserved financial windfall for a few.

This is from an editorial today in the St. Petersburg Times:

Whether President Bush realizes it or not, the Baker-Hamilton report, a blistering indictment of virtually every aspect of his Iraq policy, provides him with bipartisan political cover for what may well be his last, best chance to change course. Will he seize the opportunity or hunker down in denial? With young Americans dying every day in Iraq, this is no time for the president to let his stubborn streak take charge.

[...]

The way things are going, events - and not policymakers and study groups - may ultimately determine the outcome in Iraq. And it's likely to be an ugly one.

What hasn't been reported much is the exodus of Iraqis to nearby countries which is creating a new set of problems in a region with more than enough already.

As they leave Iraq at a rate of nearly 3,000 a day, the refugees are threatening the social and economic fabric of both Jordan and Syria. In Jordan, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis are trying to blend into a country of only 6 million inhabitants, including about 1.5 million registered Palestinian refugees. The governments classify most of the Iraqis as visitors, not refugees.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimated in a report released last month that more than 1.6 million Iraqis have left since March 2003, nearly 7 percent of the population. Jordanian security officials say more than 750,000 are in and around Amman, a city of 2.5 million. Syrian officials estimate that up to one million have gone to the suburbs of Damascus, a city of three million. An additional 150,000 have landed in Cairo. Every month, 100,000 more join them in Syria and Jordan, the report said.

In a report released this week, Refugees International, a Washington-based advocacy group, put the total at close to two million and called their flight “the fastest-growing humanitarian crisis in the world.”

I shudder to think of the global impact resulting from the Bush Administration's insanely obsessive war effort. Without a doubt, reverberations will be felt for years if not decades.