The Utah mother of a Marine killed in Iraq this year believes President Bush's Tuesday night speech was right on target: U.S. troops must stay in Iraq until the job is done.

"I feel if we leave now out of Iraq, all the young men and young women who have lost their lives have lost their lives in vain," said Colleen Parkin, mother of Marine Cpl. Matthew Reed Smith, a West Valley native and one of 30 Marines and a Navy medic who died earlier this year when a helicopter crashed in the Iraqi desert.

"It's unfortunate people have lost their lives. We still feel bad we lost our son. But we know he did it so we can have our freedoms here . . . under the flag of the United States. That makes us proud."

The majority of Utahns apparently share that sentiment.

Sixty-two percent of 279 Utahns surveyed in the hours after the speech said they strongly or somewhat approve of America's continued involvement in the war in Iraq. That's a strong showing but down 12 points from a March 2004 survey, also conducted by Dan Jones & Associates. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percent.

Just half of those responding to the Tuesday poll for the Deseret Morning News and KSL-TV said President Bush has given compelling arguments for maintaining U.S. involvement in Iraq.

"I think this is a tough sell," said Ron Hrebenar, the University of Utah's Political Science Department chairman and Hinckley Institute of Politics interim director.

Bush has faced calls to withdraw some 135,000 American troops in Iraq or send more to bolster the fight. More than half of Americans surveyed in a recent Associated Press-Ipsos poll said invading Iraq was a mistake.

In a speech staged at the Fort Bragg, N.C., Army base, which was viewed at least in part by 37 percent of Utahns surveyed, President Bush generally appealed for the nation's patience in the Iraqi war.

"The work in Iraq is difficult and dangerous," he said. "The suffering is real."

The war since March 2003 has claimed the lives of 1,740 Americans, wounded 13,190 and cost more than $200 billion, according to numbers reported by The Associated Press.

Some Americans may be asking themselves if it's worth it, Bush said.

"It is worth it, and it is vital to the future security of our country," he said.

Bush said setting a timetable for withdrawal would send the wrong message to American and Iraqi troops as well as "the enemy," which he said "would know all they have to do is wait us out."

"I realize Americans want our troops to come home as soon as possible. So do I," Bush said. "America will not leave until the job is done. . . . As the Iraqis stand up, we will stand down."