72% Of Troops Want Pullout From Iraq?

Hmm…

NEW YORK A poll of U.S. troops currently serving in Iraq—reportedly the first of its kind—shows that 72% advocate a U.S. pullout within a year, with only 23% for staying as long ”as necessary,” reports Nicholas Kristof in his New York Times column today. Some 29% urge withdrawal “immediately.”
Kristof recently came out for setting a deadline for withdrawal at the end of next year.
The poll of 944 service members was conducted by Zogby International and LeMoyne College. Recent Gallup and CBS News polls have shown that most Americans at home also advocate the beginning of a pullout.
Kristof calls the survey of soldiers “one more bit of evidence that our grim stay-the-course policy in Iraq has failed. Even the American troops on the ground don’t buy into it — and having administration officials pontificate from the safety of Washington about the need for ordinary soldiers to stay the course further erodes military morale.”

I’m not sure this poll tells us what Mr. Kristof wants it to tell us. The idea that there would be massive troop withdrawals from Iraq in 2006 is something that has been put forward by the Pentagon more than once. When the troops who responded to this poll advocated for a pullout “within a year” aren’t they basically just stating support for a plan already supported by the Pentagon?
There is also the question of whether or not a poll of this nature captures the true feelings of these troops. Asking a soldier when he should get to go home while he is on the battlefield is a bit like asking a cancer patient what they think of their decision to undergo chemo therapy while they’re sick from the treatment. At the time the cancer patient might think that it was a mistake to get the treatment, but once the treatments are over the patient probably feels a bit differently about the decision to fight the cancer.
I suspect (though obviously there is no way of knowing) that this same sort of thing might be the case with this poll. Let’s not forget that the military voted strongly for Bush in 2004 knowing full well that a vote for him would undoubtedly mean the continuance of the war.
But regardless, even if all of these soldiers called for immediate withdrawal from Iraq it still wouldn’t mean that such a thing would be the right decision.