Why did the successful war in Iraq to replace Saddam Hussein with a democracy lose the majority support of the American public? Despite steady U.S. military progress against jihadists, and the bold endorsement of peaceful self-rule by 11 million Iraqis, public approval was slowly eroded by an accumulation of hits: The initial looting in Baghdad, over-the-top reporting on the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, the incessant suicide bombers and improvised explosive devices, the two sieges of Fallujah, more than 2,000 American fatalities, and a re-energized and media-savvy anti-war movement. |