Seven in Ten Americans say Iraq War was not worth fighting.

In a recent poll seven in ten Americans have finally come to the conclusion that the Iraq War was not worth fighting. I seriously don't want to belittle a u-turn that I welcome, but an occasion like this demands a quote from Homer.

"Doh!"

(I apologise to anyone who hoped the quote would come from the Iliad.)

And, whilst this awakening is taking place, I'd like to point out that the deceptions haven't yet ended. In his Mar. 11 radio address, U.S. president George W. Bush discussed the state of affairs in Iraq declaring, "The security of our country is directly linked to the liberty of the Iraqi people".

Hopefully, those same Americans who now realise the folly that was the invasion of Iraq will recognise the above quote as the bullshit that it is. American security is completely unrelated to the "liberty of the Iraqi people".

This is just another example of Bush's chronic inability to ever admit he got it wrong. Indeed, American security would be enhanced if the US took some steps to combat the fierce anti-American feelings swirling around the globe.

Feelings that seem incredible when one considers that, after 9-11, Paris' Le Monde summed up the emotional involvement of the entire planet with America's agony in the headline, "We Are All Americans Now".

How quickly Bush squandered so much empathy.

However, rather than change the tack that has alienated so many of America's natural allies, Bush wants more of the same. In his radio address he continued, "This will require more difficult days of fighting and sacrifice, yet I am confident that our strategy will result in victory, and then our troops can come home with the honour they have earned."

The planet can take hope from the fact that 59 per cent of the poll respondents think the U.S. should either decrease the number of troops in Iraq or remove all soldiers from the area.

Hopefully, America is waking up and realising that patriotism doesn't mean following your leader. Sometimes, the greatest act of patriotism is to disagree with the direction in which a particular leader is taking your country.

Democracy has a price. It demands that we all stand up and be counted. It does not demand that we follow.