US occupation sinks deeper in turmoil

File Photo: Iraqis watch a statue of former president Saddam Hussein covered for a short time with a US flag (L) and then being brought down in Baghdad's al-Fardous (paradise) square. One year on April 9, 2004, US and coalition forces are now battling insurgent forces, militias, petty crime, kidnappings, smuggling and general lawlessness, while the Iraqi people still live under curfew, lack of water, electricity and other amenities and worry about their day-to-day safety and the high unemployment. PHOTO: AFP

Opinion polls indicate a majority of the US public opposes his handling of the occupation. Democratic politicians openly talk of a new Vietnam. The families of the 130,000-plus US troops in Iraq are more boldly questioning the absence of their loved ones.

One year after Saddam Hussein was defeated, Bush is now fighting Sunni and Shiite Muslim insurgents. He has said he is determined to beat the "terrorists and thugs" and press ahead with the June 30 change to a civilian Iraqi government.

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But even countries in the US-led coalition are wondering what the US leader will do to produce the stability needed for a successful transition, according to diplomats.

Iraq has produced a lot of bad news in recent weeks as Bush becomes more deeply involved in the campaign for the November 2 presidential election.

The US military death toll has gone past 630, violence has erupted in city after city across the country and images of four US security contractors mutilated in Fallujah last week shocked the nation.

Just 40 percent of Americans approve of the way Bush is handling Iraq, according to a Pew Research poll released this week. It was his lowest rating ever and down from 59 percent in January.

A year ago most polls showed more than 70 percent of Americans supporting Bush in Iraq.

A Pew poll taken just before Saddam's regime was brought down, showed 60 percent of Americans said they would support the war even if it lasted more than a year.

Normally, war is a time of unity for Americans. And the growing public disquiet has emboldened Democrats.

Senator Ted Kennedy shocked many Republicans this week when he said Iraq had become "George Bush's Vietnam". Such references to the United States biggest military disaster are still hard for many to accept.

Republicans accused Kennedy of playing an presidential election card. But Democratic contender John Kerry, a Vietnam veteran, followed it up, calling the occupation "one of the greatest failures of diplomacy and failures of judgment that I have seen in all the time that I've been in public life."

Kerry has however been careful with each attack to emphasise his support for US troops.

People who voted for Bush in the 2000 election are also turning against him now.

Connie Cominsky calls herself a "normal" 52-year-old housewife who voted Republican last time. Her brother has had one tour in Afghanistan and is now in Iraq. A nephew is also there. Cominsky said she is "scared" by the e-mails she receives.

"I don't know how I could have been so wrong about this president," said Cominsky, who is now an activist for the Military Families Speak Out group. "Now I want him to go to the United Nations and beg on his knees for help."

The good news for Bush is that the roller-coaster polls still show a majority believe the Iraq invasion was right, though even that is falling. And they show that the election battle with Kerry is still neck and neck.