Iraq War, Once Bush's Trump Card, May Be Liability (Update1)

[Nicholas_J]

Sept. 2 (Bloomberg) -- In May 2003, President George W. Bush stood before a ``Mission Accomplished'' banner on the USS Abraham Lincoln and declared an end to major combat in Iraq.

That month, 68 percent of Americans said the U.S. had made the right decision in invading Iraq, according to a survey by the University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes.

As U.S. casualties mounted, to 971 killed and 6,690 wounded as of Aug. 27, and attacks and kidnappings continued, Americans changed their mind. In another survey by the University of Maryland published Aug. 20, support for the invasion dropped to 46 percent. Sixty-nine percent said the war had damaged the U.S. image abroad.

``It's been a stunning turn of events,'' said Bruce Buchanan, a University of Texas professor and author of four books on the presidency, including ``The Policy Partnership: Presidential Elections and American Democracy,'' published in April. ``Bush gambled on the war in Iraq, and so far, it is not a winning hand.''

As Bush accepts the Republican nomination tonight and is deadlocked with Democratic challenger John Kerry, the president and party leaders are talking less about Iraq and more about the broader ``war on terror,'' said John Mueller, an Ohio State University professor who is author of ``War, Presidents and Public Opinion'' and other publications on how war affects presidencies.

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