Interesting poll

In the first poll I've seen directly focused on troops, Zogby has some interesting results.

Taken as a group, 72% of troops in Iraq want a withdrawl in 12 months. By branch, guardsmen want out now at about 75%, while only 15% of Marnies feel that way, but 58% of Marines back the 12 month idea. This makes sense to me. Guardsmen and Reserves signed on for a weekend a month and two weeks a year, not extended duty abroad. I wonder if this contributes to the "I know a soldier in Iraq who has high/low morale" conversations we've all heard. If your guy is a guardsman, morale is probably low, if he's a marine, probably high.

I thought the good news was that most feel like they have adequate armor.

However, I thought the answers as far as why we're their were very interesting.
"The wide-ranging poll also shows that 58% of those serving in country say the U.S. mission in Iraq is clear in their minds, while 42% said it is either somewhat or very unclear to them, that they have no understanding of it at all, or are unsure. While 85% said the U.S. mission is mainly “to retaliate for Saddam’s role in the 9-11 attacks,” 77% said they also believe the main or a major reason for the war was “to stop Saddam from protecting al Qaeda in Iraq.”

“Ninety-three percent said that removing weapons of mass destruction is not a reason for U.S. troops being there,” said Pollster John Zogby, President and CEO of Zogby International. “Instead, that initial rationale went by the wayside and, in the minds of 68% of the troops, the real mission became to remove Saddam Hussein.” Just 24% said that “establishing a democracy that can be a model for the Arab World" was the main or a major reason for the war. Only small percentages see the mission there as securing oil supplies (11%) or to provide long-term bases for US troops in the region (6%)."

Seems very discombobulated to me. More than 58% of the troops should have a clear understanding of why they're fighting. I don't know if this is a failure of leadership, or if it reflects the constantly shifting rataionale we're getting here in the states. When only 6 in 10 troops have a clear goal in mind, right or wrong (and reading the reasons, its entirely possible that each of the 6 has a different "clear" objective) it sounds more like a mercenary army than a democratic one. In any case, the administrations latest reason, "to build a democracy in the Middle East," doesn't seem to be connecting with the troops.

This clearly isn't the be-all end-all to understanding the troops, but it is interesting.