Learning from Experience, At Last

[[L E A D E R S H I P]] * With new reports coming out that George W. Bush deceived the American public about the discovery of mobile “biological laboratories” in Iraq (seen back in 2003 as a vindication of his decision to make war on Saddam Hussein), and at least five retired U.S. military generals now calling for Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to resign over his mishandling of the Iraq conflict, it should come as no surprise that a majority of Americans--54 percent--“‘don’t trust’ Bush to make the right decision about whether the U.S. should go to war with Iran,” according to a new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll.

Only 42 percent of respondents say they have faith in Bush to judge whether another Middle East war--this one aimed at stopping Iran from producing nuclear weaponry--is necessary or prudent. “Forty percent said the Iraq experience had made them less supportive of military action against Iran, while 38 percent said it had no impact,” Bloomberg reports.

Turning to Iraq, Bloomberg says 56 percent of Americans now believe that that country is already engaged in a civil war, “and just 37 percent said they believe Bush when he says a lot of progress is being made there, down from 45 percent who said they believed him in January.”

READ MORE: “Here Is the Democratic Message on Iran,” by John Aravosis (AMERICAblog); “Analysts Say a Nuclear Iran Is Years Away,” by William J. Broad, Nazila Fathi, and Joel Brinkley (The New York Times); “The Nuclear Countdown,” by Tim Grieve (Salon); “On Cheney, Rumsfeld Order, U.S. Outsourcing Special Ops, Intelligence to Iraq Terror Group,” by Larisa Alexandrovna (Raw Story); “The Revolt Against Rumsfeld,” by Fred Kaplan (Slate); “Anti-Rumsfeld Chorus Grows,” by Peter Spiegel and Paul Richter (Los Angeles Times); “Kerry 49%, Bush 39%,” by Steve Benen (The Carpetbagger Report).