WASHINGTON, 25 March 2003 — Most Americans are resigned to a longer, bloodier war in Iraq than first expected but they are firmly behind President George W. Bush, according to several opinion polls released yesterday. After a weekend of stiffer Iraqi resistance against US forces in Iraq, the taking of US prisoners of war and mounting casualties on the battlefield, initial public hopes for a short war faded.
An ABC News/Washington Post poll conducted on Sunday found 54 percent of respondents expected a significant number of US casualties, up 17 points from 37 percent when the conflict began last week. “Expectations that the war will be over in days or weeks have slipped,” the poll concluded. A USA Today/CNN/Gallup Poll survey also showed expectations had changed. On Saturday, when US forces were shown on television steadily moving toward Baghdad with only sporadic resistance, 62 percent of respondents said the war was going very well. This dipped to 44 percent on Sunday when news reports became more gruesome.
In addition, 30 percent of respondents said on Saturday that a bloody ground war with high casualties was likely to develop, but that figure jumped to 49 percent a day later. The total number of confirmed US casualties in the Iraq war was at least 11 yesterday — a figure that was set to rise once the Pentagon confirmed more Marine deaths in a firefight near Nassiriyah, Iraq.
Despite the mounting body count, support for Bush and his decision to go to war remained strong, with 72 percent of respondents in the ABC News/Washington Post poll supporting the war versus 26 percent who opposed it.
Nearly three in four Americans polled by ABC and The Washington Post approved of Bush’s handling of the Iraqi conflict, for the first time exceeding his overall job approval rating of 68 percent. An NBC poll put Bush’s approval rating at 67 percent.
A majority polled by NBC said they believed the United States would find chemical and biological weapons, cited by Bush as the main reason for going into Iraq, with 62 percent saying it was very likely they would find them and only 7 percent saying it was unlikely. The polls had a margin of error from plus or minus 3 percent to 4.4 percentage points.
Meanwhile, anti-American hostility may be far from the anti-French wave seen in the United States these days, but Americans and Britons in Paris have begun feeling some heat from Muslim opponents of the war in Iraq. While incidents are still sporadic, both the foreigners and French officials are concerned that French Muslims — mostly of Arab North African origin — could take out their frustration about the war on English speakers.
“I feel really uneasy these days, especially in the rougher areas of Paris,” said Jane, a Scot who recently had to flee from a train taking her and her young son home to a racially tense Paris suburb after they were intimidated by Arab-origin youths. Days before the war, a middle-aged American visitor to Paris was insulted, shoved to the ground and badly bruised in broad daylight by what he took to be north African aggressors as he wandered through the bustling Marais district.
Neither the US and British embassies in Paris nor the police say they know of any specific violence toward Americans and British -- many of whom disagree with the conflict led by Washington and London and staunchly opposed by Paris. Up to 350 Americans staged a protest in Paris this month under banners like “God Save America from George W. Bush”, “New York Against Aggression” and “Thank You France”.
Up to 350 Americans staged a protest in Paris this month under banners like “God Save America from George W. Bush”, “New York Against Aggression” and “Thank You France”. Yet the approximately 35,000 US and British expatriates in Paris, plus the tens of thousands of Anglo-US tourists coming each month, are easy targets for those looking for trouble. And a Paris tour guide for American university students said his clients had been sneered at in the street late at night and told “Go home, Americans”.
