For the first time since it began, most US citizens believe the Iraq War is not part of the war on terrorism, as US President George W. Bush keeps insisting, a New York Times/CBS News poll published yesterday found.
Fifty-one percent of the 1,206 adults surveyed between Aug. 17 and Aug. 21 believed the two wars were separate, while 44 percent saw a link. In June the opinion was split evenly at 41 percent.
Going to war in the first place was considered a mistake by 53 percent, up from 48 percent last month; 62 percent said US efforts to stabilize Iraq were going badly; 65 percent were disappointed in how Bush was handling the situation.
And 46 precent said Bush had focused too much on Iraq and not enough on terrorists elsewhere, while 42 percent said the balance was about right.
Despite the warning the apparent rejection of the administration's Iraq policy sends to Republican lawmakers, Bush's job approval rating in the poll remained unchanged at 36 percent (57 percent disapprove) from last month.
A USA Today/Gallup Poll on Tuesday found Bush's approval rating had jumped five points to 42 percent following the arrest in Britain of 24 suspects in a foiled bomb plot against US-bound jetliners.
How Bush handled the war on terrorism met with the approval of 55 percent of respondents in the Times/CBS poll. In other key policy issues, such as the economy and foreign policy, Bush's disapproval rating neared the 60 percent mark.
The poll found that despite the recent Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire agreement, 70 percent of Americans believed that lasting peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors would never come, against 26 percent who said it would.
A majority of 56 percent said it was not the US government's business to broker a peace between Israel and its neighbors; 39 percent believed it was.
CHAOS: Iranians took to the streets playing celebratory music after reports of Khamenei’s death on Saturday, while mourners also gathered in Tehran yesterday Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a major attack on Iran launched by Israel and the US, throwing the future of the Islamic republic into doubt and raising the risk of regional instability. Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news agency announced the 86-year-old’s death early yesterday. US President Donald Trump said it gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back” their country. The announcements came after a joint US and Israeli aerial bombardment that targeted Iranian military and governmental sites. Trump said the “heavy and pinpoint bombing” would continue through the week or as long
TRUST: The KMT said it respected the US’ timing and considerations, and hoped it would continue to honor its commitments to helping Taiwan bolster its defenses and deterrence US President Donald Trump is delaying a multibillion-dollar arms sale to Taiwan to ensure his visit to Beijing is successful, a New York Times report said. The weapons sales package has stalled in the US Department of State, the report said, citing US officials it did not identify. The White House has told agencies not to push forward ahead of Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), it said. The two last month held a phone call to discuss trade and geopolitical flashpoints ahead of the summit. Xi raised the Taiwan issue and urged the US to handle arms sales to
An Emirates flight from Dubai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday afternoon, the first service of the airline since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday. Flight EK366 took off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 3:51am yesterday and landed at 4:02pm before taxiing to the airport’s D6 gate at Terminal 2 at 4:08pm, data from the airport and FlightAware, a global flight tracking site, showed. Of the 501 passengers on the flight, 275 were Taiwanese, including 96 group tour travelers, the data showed. Tourism Administration Deputy Director-General Huang He-ting (黃荷婷) greeted Taiwanese passengers at the airport and
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said that it had confirmed on Saturday night with its liquefied natural gas (LNG) and crude oil suppliers that shipments are proceeding as scheduled and that domestic supplies remain unaffected. The CPC yesterday announced the gasoline and diesel prices will rise by NT$0.2 and NT$0.4 per liter, respectively, starting Monday, citing Middle East tensions and blizzards in the eastern United States. CPC also iterated it has been reducing the proportion of crude oil imports from the Middle East and diversifying its supply sources in the past few years in response to geopolitical risks, expanding
RSS