Bush's support wanes among military

WASHINGTON, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush's approval and support for his Iraq war policies among the military community has dropped, a new poll says.

A Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll said 60 percent of the military community, which includes active-duty service members, veterans and their family members, believes that the March 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq was not worth it.

The poll's results mirror those of the overall adult population, The Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.

One-quarter of all respondents said U.S. forces should remain in the war-torn country "as long as it takes to win." However, nearly seven in 10 favor a withdrawal within the coming year or "right away."

Among military families, which were slightly more patient, 35 percent are willing to stay until victory is achieved while 58 percent want U.S. troops home within a year or sooner.

"You generally expect to see support for the president as commander in chief and for the war, but this is a different kind of war than those we've fought in the past, particularly for families," said David Segal, a military sociologist at the University of Maryland.

The survey of 1,467 adults nationwide was done Nov. 30 through Dec. 3. The margin of error for the entire sample is plus or minus 3 percentage points.