ZURICH, Sept 21 (Reuters) - International public opinion opposes a massive U.S. military strike to retaliate for suicide attacks on America by hijacked aircraft, according to a Gallup poll in 31 countries whose results were released on Friday. Only in Israel and the United States did a majority favour a military response against states shown to harbour terrorists, the survey found. People questioned elsewhere preferred to see suspected terrorists extradited and put on trial. "Around 80 percent of Europeans and around 90 percent of South Americans favour extradition and a court verdict. By European comparison, calls for a tough military response were above average among the French (29 percent) and the Dutch (28 percent)," said Swiss polling firm Isopublic, which conducted the survey in Switzerland. Seventy-seven percent of Israelis backed military action, while 54 percent of Americans were in favour, it said. The surveys were done between September 17 and 19, around a week after the September 11 suicide attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington killed more than 6,000 people. U.S. officials have named Saudi-born dissident Osama bin Laden the prime suspect and have threatened military action if Afghanistan, where bin Laden lives, does not hand him over. Clear majorities of between 70 and 80 percent supported limiting any strike to military rather than civilian targets, the survey found. Asked if their own country should support a U.S. military asssault, people in NATO countries other than Greece tended to agree. Four out of five Danes backed the idea, followed by 79 percent in Britain and 73 percent in France. Greeks were the least enthusiastic with only 29 percent, below 53 percent in Germany and 58 percent in Norway and Spain. The survey was done in Argentina, Austria, Bosnia, Britain, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Pakistan, Peru, Portugal, Romania, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, the United States and Zimbabwe. 08:15 09-21-01 _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
