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TechnoratiLONDON - Two-thirds of people questioned around the world want US-led troops to pull out of Iraq within a year, but fewer than half believe that they will ever leave, according to a poll published Friday.
In the BBC World Service poll of 23,000 people in 22 countries, 67 percent said they backed a troop withdrawal inside a year, while 49 percent believed the United States would permanently leave troops in the country.
Three in five Americans polled -- 61 percent -- thought US forces should leave within a year, with 24 percent favouring immediate withdrawal. Thirty-two percent said they should stay until security improves.
In some of the countries in the US-led coalition a majority supported a pullout within a year -- 65 percent of Britons, 63 percent of South Koreans and 63 percent of Australians.
In only three countries was there less than a majority for such a withdrawal -- 17 percent of Indians, 44 percent of Filipinos and 45 percent of Kenyans.
Overall only one in four -- 23 percent -- thought foreign troops should remain in Iraq until security improves, according to the global survey carried out for the BBC by polling firm GlobeScan, together with the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of Maryland in the United States.
GlobeScan President Doug Miller said the message from the study, carried out between the end of May and the end of July this year, was fairly clear.
"The weight of global public opinion, and indeed American opinion, is opposed to the Bush administration�s current policy of letting security conditions in Iraq dictate the timing of US troop withdrawal," he said.
Steven Kull, director of PIPA, said: "While majorities in 19 of 22 countries polled want the US to be out of Iraq within a year, in no country does a majority think it will do so."
"It seems the US is widely viewed as planning to make Iraq part of its long term military footprint in the Middle East," he added.
The poll came after Iraq war commander US General David Petraeus hinted at US troop cuts by March, as he prepared to give crunch testimony to the US Congress next week on President George W. Bush's surge strategy.
Asked if the current 162,000-strong US presence in Iraq could be drawn down by March 2008, the general said in an interview with a US television station from Baghdad: "Your calculations are about right."
© 2007 Agence France Presse
15 Comments so far
Show AllCheck out Ron Paul at the Fox debate. It's fantastic. http://www.digg.com/videos/comedy/Ron_Paul_at_the_Fox_Debates
Ron Paul tells the other conservatives the Middle East doesn't like us because we're over there. "How would we feel if China was building 14 bases here?"
I was going vote for Barac Obama, but I don't think he will try to stop the US from policing the world, and wants to increase foreign spending. Watch "Why We Fight" We need to fight the US Military Industrial Complex. I also recommend "The Money Masters," and "America Freedom to Fascism."
I don't agree with every thing Ron Paul says, but I'm going to register as a Republican so I can vote for him in their primary. I support socialized health care, but I support fighting the Military Industrial Complex and the Patriot Act more.
Even Bill Maher says "Ron Paul is his new hero" http://youtube.com/watch?v=WUYDt7kC3Z0&mode=related&search=
And Junior argues our "credibility" would suffer if we set a timeline. Wouldn't want to gain a reputation for being rational and admitting our mistakes, after all. That really screws up your credibility.
Painful Irony:
Here is Osama Bin Laden (in his recent video), a medieval-minded, ultra-doctrinal Moslem theocrat, lecturing US citizens about the loss of their democracy.
And about this point, anyway, Bin Laden's right.
Requisite for Less Painful Irony:
Enlightened US citizens first need to politically subdue christian and corporate fundamentalists, at home.
Then sane US policies can emerge that leave it to enlightened Moselms, themselves, to clean up their own fundamentalist messes.
US Pre-requisite: All such enlightened citizens off their asses; spending less time here; more time confronting power holders.
If the enemy is whoever our enemy says, how can we win?
who cares about people's opinion?
But I thought we or rather "they" were all a bunch of Attila The Huns and Genghis Khans.
Darn. :(
"Most people want to be rich too. Maybe that's why they think that voting for rich people who want them to stay poor will make them rich."
But most of the people didn't put these devils in power.
Commander in Chief lands on USS Lincoln
http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/05/01/bush.carrier.landing/
Surprise, no one likes Nazis !
Isn't staying in Iraq until security improves kind of like continuing the beatings until morale improves?
Get a clue from the Iraqis themselves -- they was us out now. They know we're not helping the security situation any.
Except the Oil companies' security-- as in securing the oil fields for their current and future plundering.
Most people's opinions don't count in our nation. What counts now is they who are in power and have the gold.________Or those who can steal the oil and own the media.
Most people want to be rich too. Maybe that's why they think that voting for rich people who want them to stay poor will make them rich.
Does the word Fascism mean anything ?!!
Fascism is an authoritarian political ideology (generally tied to a mass movement) that considers individual and other societal interests subordinate to the needs of the state, and seeks to forge a type of national unity, usually based on, but not limited to, ethnic, cultural, or racial attributes. Various scholars attribute different characteristics to fascism, but the following elements are usually seen as its integral parts: nationalism, authoritarianism, statism, militarism, totalitarianism, anti-communism, collectivism, corporatism, populism, and opposition to economic and political liberalism.[1][2][3][4][5][6]
from Wikipedia !!
We (U.S.) seem to fit the bill thoroughly.
U.S. Gov out of Iraq !
U.S. Gov out of North America !
U.S. Gov out of Planet Earth !
Too bad the US isn't a democracy. If it was, then the fact that 60% of the citizens want the policy to change would actually mean something. But since we are under corporate rule, what 60% of Americans think isn't worth a hill of beans.
hell yeah to just about everything that has been said so far....
this BS is exponential, but not as expected....
good for US......
Peace,
Ken Hausle (with an umlaut if possible)
* Go Milwaukee's Best..no better cheap beer for the locals.....