Majority of Americans view operation as a failure

AMERICANS offered a much more negative view of the Iraq war than US President George W Bush’s verdict on its fifth anniversary.

Bush said removing Saddam Hussein from power was the right decision, but a poll published yesterday found 54% of Americans saw the war as a “total failure” or “mostly a failure”.

In its front-page story, Karen DeYoung wrote in the Washington Post: “For a majority of Americans, today marks the fifth anniversary of the start of an Iraq war that was not worth fighting, one that has cost thousands of lives and more than half a trillion dollars.