Third of US veterans do not back wars, says Pew study

BBC News, 5 October 2011

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A third of post-9/11 veterans say the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have not been worth fighting, an opinion poll by the Pew Research Center suggests.

Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan have
 mixed feelings about the wars fought
since 9/11

The view by 33% of those veterans was shared by 45% of the general public, according to the research.

About six out of 10 veterans said the US should focus less on foreign affairs and more on its own problems.

Half of post-9/11 veterans thought the Afghan war worth it, while 44% said the same of the Iraq conflict.

Among members of the general public, 41% thought the Afghan war worth it and 36% believed the same of the Iraq war.

Pew, a nonpartisan organisation, surveyed nearly 4,000 veterans and members of the general public in two separate polls between July and September.