Global poll shows most people want US out of Iraq
Guardian Unlimited
Mark Tran
September 7, 2007

Most people across the world think American troops should withdraw from Iraq within a year, according to a BBC poll published today.

The BBC World Service survey, released just before Congress receives a landmark report on George Bush's "surge", underlined the unpopularity of the president's Iraq policy.

In the poll, 39% of people in 22 countries said troops should leave now, and 28% backed a gradual withdrawal. Only 23% wanted them to stay until Iraq is safe.

But the poll should provide some comfort to Mr Bush. While one in four Americans supported an immediate withdrawal, 32% wanted Iraq's security issues resolved before bringing the troops home.

On Monday, the US commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, is scheduled to give his much-anticipated testimony to Congress on the success or failure of the troop increase ordered by Mr Bush in February. American media reports say Gen Petraeus has indicated a willingness to consider pulling out one brigade of between 3,500 and 4,500 US troops from Iraq early next year, with more in following months based on conditions on the ground.

In February, Mr Bush ordered an extra 30,000 troops to Iraq, bringing the total American military presence to about 160,000 troops.

Gen Petraeus's congressional testimony is expected to reignite the debate on US strategy and put added pressure on the White House. A flurry of reports this week provided a glum assessment of the Iraqi government's capabilities.

American intelligence experts have said the government of the Iraqi prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, is dysfunctional and plagued by sectarianism. The government accountability office, a congressional watchdog, this week found little progress towards 18 "benchmarks" that the president himself laid out in January.

Yesterday a retired general, James Jones, told members of Congress that significant numbers of US troops could and should be pulled out of Iraq to encourage its own security forces to take more responsibility.

The leaders of the US, Australia and Britain have all in recent days said troops must stay until the country is safe. All three countries say they have a commitment to the Iraqi people to remain there until local forces can ensure security. But Doug Miller of Globescan, which carried out the research for the BBC, said the results showed "the weight of global public opinion" was against them.

Muslim countries including Indonesia (65%), Turkey (64%) and Egypt (58%) were among those most in favour of immediate withdrawal. But this was much less popular in Australia (22%), the US (24%) and the UK (27%), the countries with the most troops in Iraq.

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