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Still leery on Iraq, Americans want facts

Published Jan. 6, 2003

The comparison may be a bit strained, but President Bush these days seems a little like a beloved entertainer giving a so-so performance: The audience is still with him but hopes better material is coming.

A number of polls show the American people giving Bush high marks on job performance and leadership - especially in handling the war on terrorism.

He is well liked.

But a poll by The Associated Press in mid-December shows that additional tax cuts, as pushed by Bush, are unpopular with most Americans in these chancy economic times, even though cuts are central to the Bush economic stimulus plan.

Only 28 percent of those polled believe tax cuts now will help; 64 percent say it will be better to wait.

In the war on terrorism, the Bush administration's push to focus on Iraq is supported by 29 percent of those polled, while 59 percent still believe Osama bin Laden is the greater threat. In the same vein, 65 percent believe war with Iraq will increase the risk of terrorist attacks within the United States.

Couple this with the public's confusion over the different way the administration sees North Korea's threats and those of Saddam Hussein, and the ambivalence grows. That bin Laden and his terrorism network still live adds to the public doubt.

North Korea has nuclear weapons and has announced it will resume its development program. This, Bush says, we will handle diplomatically. Iraq apparently has no nuclear weapons, but Bush suggests war is the way to deal with that country.

It's possible, of course, that both problems will be handled with diplomacy.

After all, saying we may go to war and going to war is like the difference between saying you could eat a horse and actually doing it.

Threats against Saddam might accomplish as much as more orthodox diplomatic initiatives with North Korea. The movement of U.S. forces into the region, however, seems to go beyond the bluffing stage.

If it truly is Bush's intent to go to war with Iraq over its potential to develop what North Korea already has, he needs to pay close attention to American public opinion.

Those are America's real, living sons and daughters being shifted into the Gulf region. Before they are committed to battle, further explanations are due.