WASHINGTON, Aug. 22 (Xinhuanet) -- A leading US Senator said on Monday that there are similarities between US efforts in Iraq and the Vietnam War and the longer the United States stays in Iraq, the more similarities there will be.

    "There are some similarities. The longer we stay in Iraq, the more similarities will occur," Republican Senator Charles Hagel from Nebraska told reporters.

    This is because "you get bogged down in an area where you are losing your people; you're putting more and more money in; you areengendering more and more ill will toward our country, not just with Iraqi people but people in the Middle East," he said.

    "And so those similarities will occur more and more, as well aspeace protests in the United States," he said.

    Hagel said that the next six months are going to be critical "because it'll be the Iraqi people who will determine their future and their fate."

    "We can't impose our own will on Iraq," he said.

    With US causalities in Iraq rising, recent polls showed low public support for Bush's handling of the Iraq war. A poll by polling agency Ipsos early this month showed Bush's approval rating on the Iraq issue at 38 percent, the lowest point in recentmonths, and his overall job approval at 42 percent. Enditem ¡¡