Too-long war kills belief in Bush

George W. Bush

LONDON - A miserable milestone has been passed - America's (and Britain's) disastrous war in Iraq has lasted longer than the US involvement in World War II.

Yes, this conflict has outlasted a war that ended with total victory over Nazi Germany. Hitler declared war on the US on December 11, 1941, and 1244 days later, on May 7, 1945, Germany surrendered.

The US invaded Iraq on March 19, 2003, and by the weekend, 1267 days had passed with no end in sight.

Baghdad fell barely three weeks after the invasion. Since then, it's been downhill all the way.

Iraq haunts George W. Bush, and it will probably send his Republican party to defeat in the November mid-term elections.

Joe Lieberman's loss in the Connecticut Senate primary this month was just one straw in the wind. One of the seemingly most impregnable Democrats could not retain his own party's support. He was beaten because of his support for the war, by a businessman with a simple campaign mantra: "Bring the Boys Home."

Republicans, of course, said the Democrats had turned into a party of left-wing pacifists who could not be trusted to fight the terrorists.

But this argument works no longer. Even the wilfully blind can see that Iraq is a disaster. Far more revealing is the stand of Chris Shays, a Connecticut Republican who supported the war but last week broke ranks with the White House and called for a firm timetable for withdrawal.

If you're seeking re-election in November, there's really no choice.

Bush's problem is that two-thirds of Americans - according to a recent poll - no longer accept his argument that Iraq has become "the central front in the war on terror".

Iraq, they now realise, had nothing to do with 9/11, and the foreign fighters who are now in Iraq went there only after the 2003 invasion. They believe the invasion has made them less safe.

Put it another way: if you start a war that lasts as long as the US version of World War II, you'd better have something to show for it. Bush does not.

- INDEPENDENT