British popular support for war is sliding

LONDON, April 3 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – With a longer-than-expected military conflict, a higher toll of civilian casualties and many losses in the ranks of their country’s forces, the Britons’ support for the aggression against Iraq has dropped below 50 percent for the first time since the war began two weeks ago, according to a poll published Thursday, April 3.

The survey, conducted by ICM for Good Morning Television (GMTV) and the anti-war tabloid The Daily Mirror, showed that support for the U.S. and British attacks now stands at 48 percent, with 38 percent against going to war, and 14 percent unsure.

But the poll also showed that an overwhelming majority, 78 percent, do not want British forces brought home until the war is over, no matter how long it takes.

Although a big majority did not want war without U.N. backing, when it started support swung powerfully behind the troops.

But after a few days those saying they were in favor of the war had slipped to 59 per cent in a Daily Telegraph-YouGov poll. A second survey by the same organisation this week revealed the figure had slid to 51 per cent.

Now our poll puts support down at 48 per cent. Thirty-eight per cent of people said they thought it was wrong to go to war.

Women remain significantly against military aggression, 43 per cent said the war was wrong with 39 per cent saying it is right.

Young people aged 18 to 24 are split with equal numbers agreeing and disagreeing.

There is no doubt about the strength of support for British troops - 78 per cent insist British forces must not be brought home until the war is over however long it takes, said the paper.

Yet, it added, a significant 16 per cent want them withdrawn now.

On the whole people accept the reasons given by Tony Blair and President Bush for going to war. They think the principal causes are Saddam Hussein's possession of weapons of mass destruction and his evil regime.

Nearly one in five think it is because the U.S. wants control of Iraq's oil reserves and more than one in 10 believe America wants revenge for the atrocities of September 11 hijack attacks for which Washington blamed Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network. The U.S. used to say that Iraq is closely linked to the terrorist organisation.

“Lack of Preparation”

There was considerable criticism this week of a claimed lack of preparation, particularly by the Americans.

The poll showed limited agreement, five per cent said the U.S.-led forces were very badly prepared and 23 per cent quite badly. But 54 per cent said they were quite well prepared and 12 per cent very well.

A U.S. FA-18 Hornet warplane and a Black Hawk helicopter have been shot down over southern Iraq earlier in the day.

The Hornet was downed by a surface-to-air missile, American TV networks said. And the Pentagon announced that the Black Hawk was hit by small arms fire.

Also, in another setback for British official efforts to launch hemorrhage of public support for war, a BBC cameraman was killed in northern Iraq when he stood on a landmine as he climbed out of his car.

Trust For Reporters

The poll also revealed that the British have little faith in U.S. President George Bush. Fewer than one in seven trust him to tell the truth over what is happening. Tony Blair gets a better score but even he is not trusted to tell the truth by six out of 10.

It found that those most trusted to tell the truth about what is happening turned out to be reporters covering the war, with a remarkable 60 per cent support. Military chiefs got 44 per cent backing and Blair 40 per cent.

Bush is trusted by only a paltry 15 per cent of British people while a surprising four per cent said they believe the Iraqi regime.

Eighteen per cent said they trust nobody. Few trust Bush to tell truth about war but many accept Bush and Blair's reasons. There are doubts about troops' readiness but most say they must see it through

Blair was widely criticized when a family of one of two dead British soldiers in Iraq has accused him of "lying" when he charged the men were executed by Iraqi forces.

Bush also met with large scepticism when he kept that his forces advanced to Baghdad from the first day of war, ignoring the stiffer-than-expected Iraqi resistance and the higher-than-anticipated death toll in their ranks.

ICM Research interviewed a random 502 adults by phone on April 1. Data was weighted to the profile of all adults.

Also Wednesday, a small homemade bomb exploded outside the British consulate-general in Istanbul causing minor damage but no injuries, Turkish and British officials said.