The Antiwar Majority Versus the pro-war elites

The massive antiwar demonstration in Washington, D.C., over the weekend – with attendance estimates ranging from 100,000 to 200,000 – dramatized what the pollsters already know: the Iraq war is hugely unpopular, and public opposition is increasing by leaps and bounds. The significance of the Sept. 24 march is that the antiwar majority is finally making itself heard.

A recent CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll shows 67 percent disapproving of Bush's "stay the course" policy, up nearly 10 points since the last poll taken in the beginning of September. Half believe Iraq will never become a stable democracy – and, by implication, that we'll be there forever, if George W. Bush and his bipartisan enablers have their way. Sixty-five percent think we're spending too much on Iraq, and when it comes to policy alternatives – increasing troops, keeping the number steady, decreasing the U.S. troop presence, or getting out altogether – the results are, respectively, 8, 26, 33, and 30 percent. According to a recent New York Times/CBS poll, half say the invasion was a mistake.