A majority of Americans now believe the war in Iraq was a mistake, for the first time since the invasion, according to a poll released today.

Views about Iraq have shifted dramatically in less than a month. The USA Today/CNN/Gallup survey shows that 54 per cent of Americans polled say it was a mistake to send US troops into Iraq, compared with only 41 per cent who held that view three weeks ago.

It is the first time since the Vietnam War that a majority of Americans has called a major deployment of US troops abroad a mistake.

In another worrying sign for President Bush, for the first time a majority of Americans - 55 per cent - also say the Iraq war has made the nation less safe from terrorism.

Mr Bush has consistently called Iraq the "central front" in the War on Terror. In December, 56 per cent said the Iraq war had made the US safer.

Attitudes to the war have been steadily souring for months, but the latest figures suggest a far more rapid sense of disillusionment among the US public, both toward Iraq and Mr Bush’s handling of the War on Terror, which has been the centrepiece of his re-election campaign and his strongest electoral suit.

Now, asked who would do a better job handling terrorism, 48 per cent back Mr Bush, and 47 per cent support John Kerry, the president’s Democrat opponent this November. Earlier this year Mr Bush led Mr Kerry on that question by a wide margin.

The results emerged in the aftermath of yesterday’s extreme violence in Iraq, when 90 people died in clashes and bombings carried out by rebels loyal to the Jordanian-born terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Today, US-led forces retaliated with a guided missile strike on a suspected safe-house of al-Zarqawi, the alleged al-Qaeda leader in Iraq.

A US military spokesman said that up to 25 people died in the attack in the troubled town of Fallujah, where Sunni Muslim rebels have clashed repeatedly with coalition and Iraqi forces.

Witnesses said that two missiles were launched at the house from the air.

Meanwhile Hazem al-Shaalan, Iraq’s new defence minister, said that when the interim Iraqi government takes over in five days’ time it will consider imposing a state of emergency on areas riven by terrorist attacks from the al-Zarqawi network.

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