Losing the Troops in Iraq

With an Iraq troop surge likely on the horizon, it isn't just the Senate who don't seem to be thrilled with Bush's whole approach to Iraq:

For the first time, more troops disapprove of the president's handling of the war than approve of it, according to the 2006 Military Times Poll.

The account from the Seattle Times goes on to report that "only 41 percent of the military now say the United States should have gone to war in Iraq, down from 65 percent in 2003." It also gives this caveat as to how much this result reflects the opinion of the military as a whole:

The Military Times survey, conducted by mail Nov. 13 through Dec. 22, is the fourth annual gauge of active-duty military subscribers to the newspapers. Results are not representative of the military as a whole. The survey's respondents, 945 this year, are on average older, more experienced, more likely to be officers and more career-oriented than the overall military population.

Still, this is more bad news for Bush's war, whose "surge" will likely prove more "good lives after bad" than that final added expenditure that makes the whole investment pay off.