Most Americans Back War on Iraq but Want World Support

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, September 04, 2002

Most Americans Back War on Iraq but Want World Support

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A solid majority of Americans support military action to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, but most of them also want international support, a poll conducted by The Los Angeles Times said on Monday.

The nationwide poll found that 59 percent of Americans believe the United States should take military action to remove Saddam from power. An even larger majority, 64 percent, said they would support a ground attack on Iraq if US President George W. Bush decided to launch one.

But 61 percent of those who support military action said the United States should attack Iraq only if the international community supports the move.

"I think we ought to get rid of Saddam Hussein, but it would bea terrible mistake to do it unilaterally," the newspaper quoted Dewey Paugh, 65, a retired US Postal Service manager, as saying. Paugh was one of the respondents to the poll.

The poll showed that support for war against Iraq might drop significantly if US forces suffered significant casualties. When asked whether they would support a ground attack on Iraq if casualties were high, 45 percent said yes and 41 percent said no.

The poll also found that 60 percent of the public believes that Bush is considering an attack against Iraq because he genuinely sees Saddam as a threat to US security and 77 percent believes US military action against Iraq is likely next year.

The poll, conducted from Aug. 22 to 25, suggested that public support for military action on Iraq has diminished somewhat over the last six months. A similar poll carried out by The Los Angeles Times in January found that more than 70 percent of the public backed military action.

The poll on 1,372 adults nationwide had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

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