The Pew Center for the People and the Press has released results of a new survey—coinciding with the third anniversary of the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom—that finds the American view of the war has turned more negative than just a few months ago. Since last July, consistent majorities of Americans said they believed the US could succeed in building a stable democratic government (55 percent last month, according to the survey). Now, the percent believing success is probable has dropped below half to 49 percent.
The rate of building B-21 bombers would speed up if the fiscal 2026 defense budget passes. But it remains unclear how much capacity would be added, and whether the Air Force would simply build the bombers faster, or buy more.