WASHINGTON, Sept. 6 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A majority of citizens
across the world (67%) think US-led forces should leave Iraq within a year,
according to a BBC World Service poll of 23,000 people across 22 countries.
Just one in four (23%) think foreign troops should remain in Iraq until
security improves.
However, half of those polled (49%) believe the United States plans to
keep permanent military bases in Iraq. Another 36 percent believe the US
will withdraw all forces once Iraq is stabilized.
Three in five Americans (61%) think US forces should get out of Iraq
within a year, including 24 percent who favor immediate withdrawal and 37
percent who prefer a one-year timetable. Another 32 percent of Americans
say the forces should stay until security improves.
Other members of the US-led coalition also have majorities wanting
forces out within a year: 65 percent of Britons, 63 percent of South
Koreans and 63 percent of Australians.
Three countries -- Kenya, the Philippines and India -- do not have
majorities favouring withdrawal within a year, but in no case does a
majority favour remaining until security improves. In Kenya and the
Philippines 45 percent and 44 percent respectively, favour remaining and in
India just 17 percent favour this option.
The survey was conducted for the BBC World Service by the international
polling firm GlobeScan together with the Program on International Policy
Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of Maryland. GlobeScan coordinated
fieldwork between May 29 and July 26, 2007.
GlobeScan President Doug Miller said, "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."
Steven Kull, director of PIPA, pointed out, "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."
Kull added, "It seems the US is widely viewed as planning to make Iraq
part of its long term military footprint in the Middle East."
For more details see http://news.bbc.co.uk/ or
http://www.worldpublicopinion.org.
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