Editorials Grow Increasingly Skeptical of War

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http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000964520


By E&P Staff

Published: June 19, 2005 10:30 PM ET


NEW YORK It was a week when opinion polls showed a plunge in support for the Iraq war, and the Downing Street memos finally made it into hundreds of newspapers across the nation. The congressman who turned french fries into freedom fries on Capitol Hill revealed he’d had a change of heart on Iraq, and now was in favor of U.S. withdrawal. On Saturday, Republican Senator Chuck Hagel of Nevada told U.S. News, "Things aren't getting better; they're getting worse. The White House is completely disconnected from reality. It's like they're just making it up as they go along. The reality is that we're losing in Iraq.”

With this as a backdrop, it was no surprise that editorials in many newspapers took a more negative view of the conflict, but others stood firm. Here’s a sampling:

Louisville Courier-Journal:

“The Downing Street memo -- as well as an earlier British briefing paper concluding that the U.S. military was not preparing adequately for a 'protracted and costly' postwar occupation -- is a timely reminder of how many unanswered questions remain about the Bush administration's inept and ill-conceived misadventure in Iraq.

“Those issues won't be addressed by the White House, which dismisses inquiries about the Downing Street memo as rehashing the past.

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