Brian, I think we discussed this several times in previous posts, but the bottom line is we didn't find WMD, and then senior administration officials denied we were facing an insurgency for several months after the insurgency started. These among other things led many to think that the administration may be incompetent, or worse untrustworthy. I think it is fair to state that the American people were not prepared for a tough war (relative I realize), so I would argue that public opinion wasn't truly mobilized to support the war from the out set. Those are the big mistakes we're still trying to overcome.
The good news is that Americans have fallen in love with our military, and we don't have the break in ranks between our citizens and soldiers we saw during the last years of Vietnam. That means still have plenty of good will to build on. Furthermore, I saw some very positive coverage on the war today on CNN. If we can continue to build on the successful election we may be able to turn public opinion around on the overall policy. I think our President's recent press conferences and an apparently successful election process (to date) has softened much of the criticism.
I think at this juncture we're very dependent on the will of the Iraqi people to solve their problems using a political process. If they show some measure of success which results in giving the American public a ray of hope that this can work, then I think you'll see our public resolve stiffened.
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