85 percent of US troops in Iraq believe the main US mission was "to retaliate for Saddam's role in the 9/11 attacks."

WASHINGTON, March 1, 2006 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The vast majority of US troops in Iraq want to end occupation of the Arab country within a year, as public backing for the US policy in Iraq has tumbled to an all-time low, new polls have showed.

A wide-ranging poll of US troops in Iraq conducted by Le Moyne College and Zogby International found that 72 percent believe the United States should exit Iraq within a year, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP) Tuesday, February 28.

At the same time, 53 percent of the respondents said the number of US troops and bombing missions should be doubled to control the insurgency, according to the poll results.

The survey was conducted at several locations inside Iraq, polling 944 soldiers in face-to-face encounters.

The pollsters said the survey had a margin of error of 3.3 percent.

It found that only 23 percent of those surveyed believe that US troops should stay in Iraq "as long as it takes," US President George W. Bush's formulation for how long US forces will remain in the country.

In contrast, 29 percent of the respondents said US troops should leave immediately, 22 percent within six months, and 21 percent within six months to a year.

Support for an exit within a year was highest among reserve and national guard troops -- 89 and 82 percent respectively. It was lower among regular army troops (70 percent) and lowest among marines (58 percent).

The poll found that 58 percent of the respondents said the US mission in Iraq is clear in their minds, while 42 percent said it was somewhat or very unclear or that they were unsure or did not understand the mission at all.

An overwhelming majority (85 percent) said the main US mission was "to retaliate for Saddam's role in the 9/11 attacks."

Another major reason for the war cited by 77 percent of the respondents was "to stop Saddam from protecting Al-Qaeda in Iraq."

The London-based Royal Institute of International Affairs has said that the war gave a momentum to Al-Qaeda's recruitment and fundraising.

Just 24 percent said that "establishing a democracy that can be a model for the Arab world" was the main or a major reason for the war.

Bush has said that one of his objectives to invade Iraq is to establish democracy in the Arab country to be a model for other Middle East countries.

Ninety-three percent said that removing weapons of mass destruction (WMD) was not a reason for the US military presence in Iraq.

Bush invaded Iraq in March 2003 on the grounds that Saddam had WMD.

A recent US presidential report revealed that the United States was "dead wrong" on Iraq’s alleged WMD and its officials made the case for invading the oil-rich country despite intelligence doubts and strong voices of dissent.

Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell regretted his UN statement making the case for the US-led Iraq invasion, saying it was a "blot" on his record.

More than 80 percent of the poll respondents said they did not have a negative view of Iraqis because of insurgent attacks.

Four in five said they oppose the use of such internationally banned weapons as napalm and white phosphorous.

And 55 percent said harsh and threatening interrogation of prisoners to gain information of military value was not appropriate or standard military conduct.

An Australian television station broadcast February 15 previously unpublished images of abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison, a US-run jail.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) February 16 branded the horrific images of abuse of Iraqi prisoners by US jailers as a clear violation of international humanitarian law.

Rates Down

Growing pessimism over Iraq , along with Bush's support despite bipartisan objections for letting a state-owned Arab company take over key operations at six US ports, appeared key factors driving his approval rating down to 34 percent in a CBS News poll, the lowest recorded by CBS, reported Reuters.

Sixty-two percent of Americans said they thought US efforts to bring order to Iraq were going badly, up from 54 percent in January, compared with 36 percent who said things were going well, a drop from 45 percent.

But opposition among Americans to the Iraq war has grown as American casualties have mounted and unrest has persisted despite a costly program to train Iraqi police and soldiers to take over security.

Before leaving on a trip to India and Pakistan, Bush skirted a reporter's question whether the latest Iraqi violence following last week's bombing of a major Shiite mosque would affect prospects for beginning a drawdown of US forces.

There are 136,000 US troops in Iraq.

"The people of Iraq and their leaders must make a choice," Bush said after a White House meeting with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

"The choice is a free society, or a society dictated...by evil people who will kill innocents."

Bush spoke as bombers struck in and around Baghdad in the latest phase of Iraq's gravest crisis since a 2003 US-led invasion.

Seated next to Bush, Berlusconi said he stood by his plan to withdraw all of Italy's 3,000 troops from Iraq by the end of the year.

Mental Disorder

In a related development, a US study revealed on Tuesday that US troops returning from Iraq have the highest rate of mental health consultation and psychological problems compared to other troops returning from Afghanistan and other trouble spots.

One third of US troops returning from Iraq have needed at least one mental health consultation and one in five have been diagnosed with combat-induced psychological problems, AFP reported.

The rate of mental trauma in Iraq veterans compares with 11.3 percent for soldiers and marines returning from Afghanistan and 8.5 percent for those deployed in other trouble spots, according to research conducted by Charles Hoge, a physician at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Silver Spring, Maryland.

The study is published in the March 1 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Researchers interviewed 303,905 troops, including 222,620 who had returned from Iraq; 16,318 from Afghanistan and 64,967 from other deployment zones, such as Kosovo and Bosnia.

The troops were interviewed one year after their return to the United States.

Post-traumatic stress disorder and other combat-related mental problems can lead to family strife, divorce, alcohol and substance abuse, and unemployment, Hoge said.