The American majority that shuns the Administration proposal to increase the number of US military forces in Iraq still holds the same negative view even after the President’s speech last week, according to a new USA Today/Gallup Poll. The Jan. 12-14 survey showed that 59 percent of respondents oppose a surge in forces. Asked about the issue a week earlier, 61 percent were opposed to such a move.
A new Air Force plan for how many fighters it needs in the next decade marks a sharp upturn from what it thought it needed just seven years ago. But analysts worry that the aspirational plan now in Congress' hands doesn’t make a tight enough connection to national strategy.


