Bush ex-strategist says loses faith in president

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The chief strategist of U.S. President George W. Bush's 2004 re-election campaign said he had lost faith in the president over Iraq and other issues, in one of the highest-level ruptures of Bush's inner circle.
 
Matthew Dowd, a polling expert who switched parties to become a Republican and served as a senior strategist in Bush's 2000 presidential campaign, told The New York Times in an interview on Sunday that Bush must face up to Americans' growing disillusionment with the war.
 
Dowd said he had found himself agreeing with calls by Democratic Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, Bush's opponent in 2004, for a withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.

"If the American public says they're done with something, our leaders have to understand what they want," Dowd said. "They're saying, 'Get out of Iraq.'"