Okay....

According to a Washington Post/ABC News poll,

[w]hile a slight majority believe the Iraq war contributed to the long-term security of the United States, 70 percent of Americans think these gains have come at an "unacceptable" cost in military casualties. This led 56 percent to conclude that, given the cost, the conflict there was "not worth fighting"....

A strong majority of Americans, 58 percent, support keeping military forces in Iraq until "civil order is restored," even in the face of continued U.S. causalities [sic]. By a slight margin, 48 percent to 44 percent, more voters agreed with Bush's position that the United States is making "significant progress" toward its goal of establishing democracy in Iraq. Yet, by a similar margin, the public believes the United States is not making significant progress toward restoring civil order.

Okay, so first off, 58% say we should keep troops in Iraq until civil order is restored, even though only 48% say we're managing it. Terrific.

Then there's the fact that by that same figure, a maximum of 42% of Americans say the troops should be pulled out (making no allowances for "I don't know"s). But 70% say any gains have come at an "unacceptable" cost and 56% say the war was "not worth fighting." That means that, based on this poll, a minimum of 14% of Americans believe the costs of the Iraq war outweigh the benefits and we shouldn't have done it - but we should keep doing it anyway.

And we wonder why we elect people like Shrub.