The home front

摘要

Six months ago, national security seemed to be George Bush's greatest strength, the economy a possible Achilles heel. One year before Election Day 2004, the pattern has suddenly reversed itself. Because of surging third-quarter economic growth and the growing bloodshed in Iraq, Mr Bush is pointing happily to his economic record while all his potential Democratic challengers-not just the strongly anti-war Howard Dean-feel emboldened to attack his foreign policy. The explanation for the change starts in Iraq. Americans have become increasingly concerned about rising casualties and the cost of war. The past week has been the deadliest for months. Eighteen American soldiers were killed in the first three days of November, 15 of them when a helicopter was shot down west of Baghdad. The toll was the more troubling for Americans at home because it came after a period of relative calm. In the five weeks between mid-August and late September, the American death toll had fallen to about four a week, as the occupation forces seemed to be putting their early problems behind them (see chart on next page).