LEWISTON – As far as Gary Bragg is concerned, war is hell. Mounting death tolls and the daily news from the front is always grim. But to achieve peace in a place like Iraq, sacrifice is necessary.

“You can’t go into a country like that, with the beliefs that they have, and expect that it’s going to be easy,” the 41-year-old Greene man said. “I don’t think anything happening in Iraq comes as a great surprise. I still support the war.”

According to a new poll by The New York Times and CBS News, people sharing Bragg’s views are dwindling. Support for the war has dropped dramatically over recent months as more soldiers and civilians are killed.

After initially expressing overwhelming backing for the war, the American public is almost evenly divided on it now. According to the poll, 47 percent of people asked said the United States had done the right thing by invading Iraq. That number was down sharply from 63 percent in December.

“I think it’s tough, now that we’re seeing people dying over there and other countries pulling out,” said 32-year-old Todd Boulet. “It’s hard to see a light at the end of the tunnel. But I still stand behind the president. We just need to find a plan to get out of there.”

Boulet and Bragg were interviewed Thursday in the parking lot of a Lewiston supermarket. There, most people said they still support the war, though they are dismayed about recent casualties.

“It has happened in every conflict we’ve been involved in. It’s a necessary evil,” said 33-year-old Lewiston resident Stephanie Renaud. “A lot of people died on Sept. 11, too. Our country can’t allow that kind of thing to happen. It could happen again.”

Not everyone expressed support for the conflict, however. Some had reversed earlier opinions about the war effort. Others remained optimistic while some were opposed to the military invasion of Iraq from the start.

“I didn’t support it at all,” said 53-year-old Jeannette Hould of Auburn. “They said it was going to be a quick war. It just gets worse and worse all the time. It makes me sad. It makes me very sad.”

Bragg was enjoying Earth Day celebrations Thursday at Bates College. On the campus, four people said they did not entirely agree with President Bush’s decision to invade Iraq. Two were opposed to the military action in the first place.

“Oil is what is driving this war. We’ve used up 90 percent of our own, so now we’re just going over there and taking somebody else’s,” said 77-year-old Arthur Whitman of Auburn. He was at the college for its Earth Day to discuss energy policies.

“From Day 1 it was a mistake and everyone knew it was a mistake,” said Whitman. “But nobody in Washington wants to hear this and they won’t hear it now.”

At Bates, several students admitted they had been tuning the war out as they struggled with final exams and summer plans. They weren’t so uninformed that they no longer grasped what was happening in the Mideast, though.

“Sometimes, when you read about everything that’s happening, you just get depressed. There’s nothing you can do,” said Bates first year student Kyle Rogers of Manchester. “I didn’t support the initial decision to go to war. But we have our people over there. You have to support the troops.”

“I don’t necessarily agree with the policy,” said Luke Feinberg, a 19-year-old Bates student from Brookline, Mass. “But our troops, you can’t just leave them hanging out there.”

In The New York Times poll, more than 1,000 U.S. citizens were questioned about their support for the war in Iraq. Poll organizers concluded that a large percentage of people had reversed earlier support of military action.

One person questioned in Lewiston Thursday admitted she had experienced a similar change of heart.

“I don’t support the war. I did once, but no more,” said 33-year-old Kelly Bedford of Greene. “I think they need to get our people out of there.”

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