On the third anniversary of Operation Iraqi Freedom, President George Bush is finding it increasingly difficult to convince Americans that he has a clear plan for victory, but Cohoes native and Army Staff Sgt. Daniel Forant, 22, says he doesn't need anyone to persuade him that it is critical to continue fighting for peace in the Middle East.

"I don't care about the politics. ... No matter what anyone says we can't leave them without a government that can protect itself," said Forant, who hopes his past experience in Iraq can help protect the lives of his comrades. "If we leave, it's going to be civil war and that means we ruined their country."

Public perception for the war was quite different in 2003 when Bush triumphantly proclaimed, "major combat operations in Iraq have ended" after landing on the USS Abraham Lincoln from an S-3B Viking aircraft he co-piloted.

It was that moment that bolstered the nation's impression that the war in Iraq was over, but nearly three years later, the bloodshed, death, destruction and heavy cost continue to rise as the world waits for Iraqi troops and the country's newly formed government to work toward providing their own security and leadership.

"In my mind we have to get out of there as fast as we can, but it's complicated because we can't just abandon millions of innocent people there," said Colonie resident Vincent DiMura, 70, whose grandson, Army Sgt. David Fisher, was killed in Iraq when the Humvee he was riding in flipped over.

It is a feeling a growing majority of Americans share, according to a CNN-USA Today-Gallop poll released Thursday that found 57 percent of those polled feeling the war was a mistake and 61 percent disapprove of Bush's handling of the conflict.

Before that about 138 U.S soldiers had been killed in Iraq, which has caused many critics of the Bush administration to believe it had no plan to deal with sectarian strife that has intensified and the waves of terrorists that flooded the country in a bloody effort to thwart attempts to form a democratic nation.

"To most of us, invading Afghanistan was a no-brainer, but it seems to me Bush said, 'While we're there, let's take out that mad-man in Iraq,'" said DiMura. "Three years later, and now we are seeing they didn't think hard enough about the implications of invading Iraq, and now we are in over our heads."

"Things have only gotten worse there, so why should we believe the president now when so much of what he said in the past turned out to be untrue?" he asked.

DiMura's doubts stem from how top administration officials wrongly concluded on many occasions that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction (including a nuclear program); that U.S. troops would be greeted as liberators; that the war would pay for itself (it is now expecting to cost at least $1 trillion); and how more troops were not needed to secure the country after occupation.

More recently, Vice President Dick Cheney stated that the insurgency was in its last throes, but recent upswings in violence, U.S. troop levels and massive air assaults against the enemy that started Thursday present different and harsher reality on the ground.

However, Forant believes bemoaning the past won't solve anything, so he's sticking with the president's plan and also he's convinced "we are making progress" in Iraq.

"The reality is it's going to take a long time, a lot of money and tough times to win the hearts and minds of Iraqis," said Forant. "Even though Bush is losing support now, he's sticking to his guns, and I'm sticking with him.

"We are making leaps up too. ... We're building schools, water and electricity (flows) are getting better, their military is getting stronger and so is their government."

During Thursday's swearing in of Iraq's new parliament, a senior politician spoke of a country in crisis and felt it was in their hands to prove to the world that a civil war will not take place under their watch.

However, the meeting lasted only 30-minutes, and the Iraqi official who spoke out was chastised for his remarks, which were called inappropriate because of their political nature, according to The Associated Press.

"It's not surprising there's going to be a lot of argument over how the government should be run," said Army National Guard Sgt. Rodney Livolsi, 39, of East Greenbush, who recently returned from serving in Iraq.

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