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http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/articleshow?artid=23994868 The Times Of India October 3, 2002 Europeans say no to war on Iraq: Poll PARIS (AFP): As world powers squabble over how to resolve the stand-off over Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and his suspected weapons of mass destruction, the European public is saying a loud "no" to war. >From Oslo to Moscow, opinion polls show a majority of Europeans are against military action against Baghdad and hundreds of thousands of people have voted with their feet at anti-war marches in several capital cities. "No War Mister Bush," thundered a headline in the Swiss tabloid Blick over a survey showing that four out of five people in the staunchly neutral country were opposed to US President George W. Bush's hard line on Iraq. Washington, which is openly seeking Saddam's downfall, wants a tough new UN resolution that would authorise military action if Iraq fails to meet tighter conditions on weapons inspections. But it has failed to win over fellow permanent Security Council members China and Russia, which remain deeply opposed to such a course of action, and surveys show that even the American people are hesistant to support a military strike without the backing of Washington's allies. Across Europe, opposition to an attack is mounting, while a poll pubished in Singapore has shown Asians are not convinced that the evidence released so far by Britain and the United States is sufficient to mount a war. In Italy, a poll published in the Catholic weekly Famiglia Cristiana on Wednesday showed nearly 90 per cent of 1,000 surveyed opposed war against Iraq. It also surveyed another 17,000 readers on the issue of Italy providing military support in any proposed conflict. Close to 95 per cent of those surveyed, declared their opposition to any Italian participation. In Britain, whose Prime Minister Tony Blair is the staunchest supporter of Bush's stance, tens of thousands of people last weekend joined what organisers called the country's biggest ever peace demonstration. Speaker after speaker at the London rally called Bush a "dictator" and Blair -- who last week published a dossier of allegations about Saddam's biological, chemical and nuclear weapons capability -- his "poodle." And a series of polls have suggested that the British public is reluctant to support military action against Saddam without at least a firm mandate from the United Nations. "It may be that Britain will go to war in a matter of weeks," veteran Labour Party leftwinger Tony Benn said at the weekend. "But nothing can take the British people into a war they do not accept." The most recent survey published in the Guardian newspaper Tuesday showed that British support for a possible war on Iraq had dropped to 33 per cent while opposition was running at 44 per cent. Demonstrations were also held at the weekend in Madrid, Rome and Washington. "Dick Cheney, dinosaur, we don't want your oil war!" chanted groups of protesters in the US capital. Germans are almost unanimous in backing the position of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, whose vehement opposition to an Iraq attack and a minister's reported comparison of Bush's methods to those of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler has "poisoned" relations with the United States, according to US officials. A poll conducted by the Hamburg Gewis institute for a television magazine found 97 per cent against any German participation in a war on Iraq, while three-quarters of those surveyed believed Bush was trying to disguise the reasons for an attack. Nearly two-thirds of French people are also opposed to their country becoming involved in a military strike even if it had UN support, according to a poll published in a Sunday newspaper. President Jacques Chirac has made clear his opposition to any unilateral US strike but has put forward a two-stage plan that could eventually see the Security Council authorize an international operation against Saddam, in which Paris could participate. In Moscow, a poll last month showed 53 per cent of Russians opposed to a US-led military operation and 57 per cent said Russia should maintain relations with Iraq, Iran and North Korea, three countries Bush says form an "axis of evil." More than 82 per cent of Swiss believe a military attack against Iraq without a mandate from the United Nations would be wrong, while three out of four Norwegians are against any US-led operation to oust Saddam, latest polls show. And in Ireland -- which currently has a seat on the 15-member Security Council -- the public oppose military action by the United States without UN approval by a margin of almost three to one, a survey said Tuesday. __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? New DSL Internet Access from SBC & Yahoo! http://sbc.yahoo.com --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bacIlu Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
