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59% Say US Has Changed for the Worse Since 9/11

Ever since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, many Americans have believed that the events of that horrible day changed the United States forever. Each year that has gone by has seen an increase in the number who believe those changes have not been good for the nation.

Fifty-nine percent (59%) of Americans now believe that the events of six years ago changed America for the worse. That’s an increase from 54% a year ago. Just 21% believe that the nation has changed for the better because of that tragedy.

The current results are almost the mirror image of the immediate reaction. Six weeks after the tragedy, 57% thought the nation had changed for the better. That number actually grew to 61% by January 2002. Now, half a decade later, just 21% of American adults hold that optimistic view. Fifty-four percent (54%) say the changes have been for the worse.

A plurality of Republicans (45%) now say the nation has changed for the worse since 9/11. That view is shared by 71% of Democrats and 61% of those not affiliated with either major party.

The increasing pessimism over the past six years has caused Americans to revise their assessment of the way that President Bush responded to the terrorist attacks. Today, just 42% rate his performance following 9/11 as good or excellent. That’s unchanged from a year ago, but down from 51% two years ago and 56% three years ago.

Sixty-eight percent (68%) of Republicans now say the President did a good or excellent job following the terrorist attacks. That view is shared by just 24% of Democrats and 36% of unaffiliateds.

More than a third of all Americans, 35%, now say the President’s response following 9/11 was poor. That’s up from 32% a year ago.

Similar trends are found in other questions asked regularly since the terrorist attacks.

Four years ago, 67% of all Americans believed the world would be a better place if other countries were more like our own. Today, 54% hold that view (up from 51% a year ago). Seventy-two percent (72%) of Republicans believe the world would be better if other nations were more like the United States. Just 43% of Democrats hold that view along with 49% of unaffiliateds.

Another question that Rasmussen Reports has tracked annually is whether the United States is safer than it was before the 9/11 attacks. Early in 2002, 61% thought the country was safer. Today, just 38% hold that view (up from 36% a year ago).

Today, 39% of Americans believe that the U.S. and its allies are winning the War on Terror. Last year, that figure was 41%. Three years ago, more than 50% thought the U.S. and its allies were winning.

A separate survey found that just 20% of Americans say the United States is generally heading in the right direction. Just 17% believe that Congress is doing a good or an excellent job.

Rasmussen Reports conducts a daily Presidential Tracking Poll, The firm also released polls today for the Presidential race in Virginia, Minnesota, and Massachusetts along with Senate race polls for Virginia and Minnesota.

Rasmussen Reports has also released Election 2008 state polling results in Pennsylvania, Missouri, Ohio, Florida, Arkansas, Wisconsin, Michigan, Oregon, Colorado, New Hampshire, New York and Illinois.

In Primary Polls, Clinton leads all Democrats in New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Florida.

The Republican Primary picture is more muddled. Romney leads in New Hampshire, Thompson leads in South Carolina, and Giuliani is on top in Florida.

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Pentagon limits web for troops

Washington - Lieutenant Daniel Zimmerman, a US army infantry platoon leader in Iraq, puts a blog on the internet every now and then "to basically keep my friends and family up to date" back home.

It just got tougher to do that for Zimmerman and a lot of other US soldiers. No more using the military's computer system to socialise and trade videos on MySpace, YouTube and nine other websites, the Pentagon says.

Citing security worries and technological limits, the Defence Department has cut off access to those sites for personnel using the Pentagon's computer network.

"I put my blog on there, and my family reads it," said Zimmerman, 29, a platoon leader with B Company, 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment.

"I keep it as vague as possible," he said. "I'm pretty responsible about it. It's just basically to tell a little bit about my life over here," he said.

Private accounts

He is regularly at a base where he does not have Defence Department access to the internet, but he has used it when he goes to bigger bases. He will have to rely always on a private account now.

Memos about the change went out in February, and it took effect last week. It does not affect internet cafes that soldiers in Iraq use that are not connected to the Defence network. The cafe sites are run by a private vendor, FUBI (For US By Iraqis).

The ban does not affect other sites, such as Yahoo, and does not prevent soldiers from sending messages and photos to their families by e-mail.

Internet use has become a troublesome issue for the military as it struggles to balance security with privacy rights. As blogs and video-sharing become more common, the military has voiced increasing worries about service members revealing details of military operations or other information about equipment or procedures that could aid the fighters on the other side.

At the same time, service members have used the websites to chronicle their time in battle, posting videos and writing journals that provide powerful personal glimpses into their days at war.

Waivers allowed

After the warnings of the shutdown went out, military members were allowed to seek waivers if the sites were necessary for their jobs.

Often insurgent groups post videos, including ones of attacks or, in some high-profile cases, of US or coalition soldiers who have been captured or killed.

If the restrictions are intended to prevent soldiers from giving or receiving bad news, they could also prevent them from providing positive reports from the field, said Noah Shachtman, who runs a national security blog for Wired Magazine.

"This is as much an information war as it is bombs and bullets," he said, "and they are muzzling their best voices."

The sites covered by the ban are the video-sharing sites YouTube, Metacafe, IFilm, StupidVideos and FileCabi; social networking sites MySpace, BlackPlanet and Hi5; music sites Pandora, MTV, 1.fm and live365; and the photo-sharing site Photobucket

Senators Prepare for Vote On War Funding Legislation

The Senate will vote this week on cutting off funding for the Iraq war and on bringing troops home by next spring, but neither outcome will be the final say in the standoff between Congress and the White House.
Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said yesterday that those questions will be tacked on to unrelated water-resources legislation. They may also carry only symbolic value. The votes would allow debate on the issue without tying up a separate $124 billion war funding bill, which Democrats hope to pass before the Memorial Day holiday.
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One amendment, co-sponsored by Reid and Sen. Russell Feingold (Wis.), a leading antiwar Democrat, would cut off funding for the war as of March 31, 2008. The other, offered by Armed Services Chairman Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) and also endorsed by Reid, would mirror language that President Bush has already vetoed, requiring U.S. troops to begin leaving Iraq as of Oct. 1, with a goal of completing combat withdrawals by March 31, 2008. To broaden the measure's appeal with Republicans, Levin added a crucial caveat: Under certain circumstances, Bush could waive the dates.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino reiterated yesterday that Bush opposes any timeline for troop withdrawals.
Last week, the House approved a spending bill that would provide only enough money for the war to continue through July -- a timetable widely opposed in the Senate as too short-term. Many Republicans and Democrats agree that the war's make-or-break moment will come in the fall, when U.S. commanders assess the effects of a troop escalation currently underway.
In the Senate, consensus is building behind setting political and legislative benchmarks for the Iraqi government, with some sort of consequences, including possible troop withdrawals, if the terms are not met.
Yet many Democrats also want to continue applying pressure for a complete U.S. withdrawal -- if only symbolically.
"The American people deserve to have the Senate go on record about whether or not it wants to end our misguided mission in Iraq and safely redeploy our brave troops," Feingold said.
Reid stressed that his party's objective had not changed. "Democrats believe they should do something very, very close to what was done in the bill that was sent to the president to be vetoed," Reid said. But he said he had not resolved how to move the spending legislation forward.