Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki (R) shakes hands with U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney in Baghdad Mar. 17, 2008.  (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    WASHINGTON, March 20 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney downplayed most Americans' opposition to the Iraq war, saying the administration would not be affected by "fluctuating" opinion polls, Washington Post reported on Thursday.

    According to the report, Cheney touted that the U.S. troop surge last year has yielded a "major success" during an interview with ABC news on Wednesday, the fifth anniversary of the Iraq war.

    "On the security front, I think there's a general consensus that we have made major progress, that the surge has worked," he said when visiting Oman, one of the stops on his Middle East trip.

    When asked to comment on a recent poll showing that most Americans say the Iraq war is not worth it, Cheney responded with "so?"

    "You don't care what the American people think?" the TV host asked.

    "No," Cheney answered. "I think you cannot be blown off course by the fluctuations in the public opinion polls."

    The vice president also compared President George W. Bush's war policies to former President Abraham Lincoln's decision to launch the Civil War.

    "Think about what would have happened if Abraham Lincoln had paid attention to polls, if they had had polls during the Civil War," he said. "He never would have succeeded if he hadn't had a clear objective."

    As an architect of the U.S. Iraq war policy, Cheney declared during a surprise visit to Baghdad on Monday that U.S. efforts to install democracy in Iraq is a "successful endeavor."

    He also insisted on the links between former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida although a newly-released defense intelligence report has made an opposite conclusion.

    According to a latest poll by Washington Post-ABC News, nearly two-thirds of Americans said that the war was not worth fighting and fewer than half think that the United States is making significant progress restoring civil order in Iraq.

    Only 32 percent of Americans approved Bush's performance in the job, the lowest in his tenure so far.

    The Iraq war, launched on March 20, 2003, has consumed U.S. taxpayers' billions of dollars and nearly 4,000 U.S. troops' lives. It was also cited as the main reason why the country is suffering from economic woes and its deteriorating international image.