From the archives: 37 US troops dead in Iraq; worst day thus far

This article was originally published in Newsday on January 27, 2005

America's deadliest day in Iraq yesterday forced President George W. Bush to seek patience from an increasingly skeptical public at home.

Without the Marine helicopter crash that killed 31 troops, it would have been a day for Bush to talk mostly of milestones in Iraq - what he called "a grand moment" coming Sunday when Iraqis hold free elections.

Instead, Bush's hoped-for march for freedom in Iraq stumbled a bit. Bush had to confront a record casualty count and a death toll that yesterday passed 1,400, including six other soldiers and Marines who died in insurgent ambushes.

He made a plea for perspective, asking Americans to judge his Iraq policy not through the drip of daily headlines but through the prism of history, where "the decisions we make today can affect how people live 30, 40 or 50 years from now."

"The story today is going to be very discouraging to the American people. I understand that," Bush said of the helicopter crash. "But it is the long-term objective that is vital - and that is to spread freedom."

Yet the most recent polls suggest that the American public is growing doubtful of Bush's vision for Iraq. Some of the erosion in support is coming from his most stalwart backers, those who live in the South and in rural communities, a new Associated Press poll shows.

More than half of Americans this month - 53 percent - said they think it's unlikely that a stable, democratic Iraq will be created, while 46 percent called it likely. That's down from 55 percent who considered it likely last April.

A majority of Americans now consistently tell pollsters the war in Iraq was a mistake.

Such pessimism is pushing Bush's approval rating to about 50 percent, one of the lowest for any recently elected second-term president.

Now some political analysts believe that a lingering, increasingly unpopular war in Iraq will make it harder for Bush to wield his political influence.

"I don't think there's any doubt about it," said Stu Rothenberg, an independent political analyst in Washington. "To the extent his job ratings suffer, that will embolden Democrats, and it will cause Republicans to find ways to challenge the president or create a separate identity."

These analysts believe the American people will consider Sunday's elections a success only if they produce real progress - a decrease in violence, perhaps the early groundwork for a U.S. exit.

"If after this election, you don't see a significant change and improvement inside Iraq ... I think the American public is going to take Iraq much more seriously as a fundamental problem," said Ivo Daalder, a former National Security Council staffer to President Bill Clinton.

The White House seems aware of this risk and has been downplaying expectations for the elections and refusing to discuss withdrawal timetables, even as the Army said this week it's planning to stay in Iraq at current strength for two years.

Beyond Iraq, pollsters say the American public also is not yet sold on Bush's broader vision of creating a world free from tyranny, as he outlined in last week's inaugural address. And any White House talk of response to nuclear ambitions in Iran and North Korea already is running into the same public skepticism now surrounding Iraq.

Bush himself sought to temper some of his loftier rhetoric on that front yesterday, acknowledging that the United States must continue dealing with important nations like China and Russia despite disagreements over their human rights records. "There won't be instant democracy," he said.

Karlyn Bowman of the conservative American Enterprise Institute said Americans want to share the gift of freedom with others around the world. It's when they think of helicopter crashes and flag-draped coffins that they worry the president is taking them too far, she said.

The worst days for U.S. troops in Iraq

37 killed

Yesterday

Helicopter crashes in bad weather in the western desert. In separate incidents, insurgents kill six U.S. troops.

28 killed

March 23, 2003

Soldiers and Marines are killed in separate battles during the U.S.-led invasion into Iraq. Jessica Lynch's Army unit is ambushed.

17 killed

Nov. 15, 2003

Seventeen soldiers die when two Black Hawk helicopters collide in northern Iraq. Elsewhere, a soldier is killed by a grenade.

16 killed

Nov. 2, 2003

Insurgents shoot down a CH-47 Chinook helicopter near Fallujah. The troops were about to begin leave.

14 killed

Dec. 21, 2004

Suicide bomber attacks a dining hall as U.S. troops are having lunch in northern Iraq. Eight Iraqis and contractors are also killed.

Sikorsky CH-53E

Super Stallion

ROLE: Cargo and troop carrier

LENGTH: 99 feet, 1 inch

HEIGHT: 28 feet, 4 inches

WEIGHT: 73,500 pounds loaded

SEATING FOR: 3 crew; up to 55 troops

SPEED: 196 mph maximum

RANGE: 518 miles or 5 hours without refueling

ALTITUDE: 18,500 feet maximum