NEWSWEEK: One Year After Start Of Iraq War, Majority (57%) Says U.S. Did the Right Thing In Going To War

One year after the start of the Iraqi war, a majority (57%) of Americans says the U.S. did the right thing in taking military action against Iraq (37% disagree). Nonetheless, 36 percent say military action against Iraq has done more to increase the risk that large numbers of Americans will be killed in a future terrorist attack, (up from 28 percent in the Dec. 18-19 Newsweek poll); 30 percent say it has done more to decrease the risk of attack, 27 percent say it has made no difference.

And more than half of Americans (55%) think the administration misanalyzed or misinterpreted reports that indicated Iraq had banned weapons (up from 36% in a Newsweek poll last May), while 35 percent disagree. People are more evenly split on whether the administration purposely misled the public about evidence of banned weapons (46% agree, a record high in the Newsweek poll; 49% disagree). A majority (53%) says the amount of money the U.S. is spending for postwar operations in Iraq is too high (34% say it's about right). A majority (55%) also says the U.S. should reduce the number of military personnel in Iraq and begin bringing troops home; 27 percent say it should keep the same amount of troops, 10 percent say send more troops.