Headlines, North America

POLITICS-U.S.: Public Wants Bigger U.N. Role

Jim Lobe

WASHINGTON, Sep 23 2003 (IPS) - A solid majority of the U.S. public favours giving the United Nations a greater role in guiding the political future and reconstruction of Iraq despite President George W. Bush’s insistence that Washington exercise virtually total control over both, found a poll released just hours after Bush’s speech to the United Nations on Tuesday.

Seventy percent of respondents said they support a ”significant role” for the U.N., while a majority of 51 percent said the U.S. should be prepared even to give up some military control to the world body in order to get other countries to deploy troops to Iraq, according to the survey of 1,500 people by the Pew Research Centre for People and the Press.

The Bush administration has ruled out relinquishing any control over the military and security aspects of the occupation.

In addition, a growing percentage of the public (44 percent) want the United Nations, as opposed to Washington (22 percent), to have the most say in creating a new Iraqi government.

Pew Centre Director Andrew Kohout attributed the results to growing concern over the rising costs and casualties of the U.S. occupation in Iraq.

The poll found that overall public concern was significantly greater than last April, when U.S. troops took control of Baghdad.

The new poll, which was conducted Sep. 17-22, is the latest of a series of surveys that show eroding support for U.S. actions in Iraq and eroding confidence in Bush’s plans there.

A ‘Washington Post’-ABC News poll taken shortly after his Sep. 7 speech to the nation about the situation in Iraq and the 87 billion dollars he requested to fund U.S. operations there found that 55 percent of the public did not believe the president had a clear plan, and a whopping 85 percent said they were concerned about Washington getting bogged down in a long and costly mission.

A Zogby poll released late last week found that Bush’s approval rating had fallen to its lowest level since he became president, from 52 percent as recently as last month to 45 percent in mid-September, compared to 54 percent who said they disapproved of his leadership.

Another CBS News poll released at the same time found that Bush’s approval rating for handling Iraq had fallen to 46 percent, compared to 47 percent who said they flatly disapproved of his performance there. Two-thirds of respondents in the CBS poll said Congress should not approve the 87-billion-dollar request.

The new Pew poll found much the same level of opposition, with 59 percent of respondents saying they were opposed to Bush’s request, and 36 percent saying they supported it. Forty-three percent said they worry a great deal about whether the country can afford such a price tag, compared to 34 percent who admitted to similar concerns in April.

Despite the attacks on U.S. forces, the public remains behind the mission, with nearly two-thirds agreeing that Washington should keep its troops in Iraq until a stable government is formed, while one-third said they should be withdrawn as soon as possible.

In addition, 63 percent said Bush made the right decision in going to war, a figure that has held steady since early August.

Nonetheless, assessments about how well the operation is going have become increasingly negative. A majority of the public believed that the U.S. mission was going ”very well” in April; that percentage is now down to 15 percent.

Nearly 60 percent of the public said they did not believe that Bush has a clear plan for exiting Iraq, compared to 32 percent who said he did.

A growing number of Americans also fault Bush for not lining up more international backing before going to war. In April, only 28 percent thought Bush should have waited for more allies to sign on; that percentage has now risen to 42.

A majority of 54 percent believes the war in Iraq has helped the war on terrorism, as opposed to 31 percent who believe that it has hurt U.S. aims.

Still, those figures represent some erosion from last May after Bush announced the end of major military operations in Iraq. At that time, nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of the public agreed that the war constituted a net gain in the war on terrorism, compared to 22 percent who said Washington lost ground.

Partisan differences over the U.N.’s role were significant.

Only 37 percent of Republicans favour the United States giving up some control of military operations in Iraq in exchange for troop commitments from other countries, compared to 63 percent of Democrats and 53 percent of independents.

Pluralities in both parties and a majority of independents favour giving the United Nations the most say in rebuilding Iraq – 35 percent for Republicans, 48 percent of Democrats, and 51 percent of independents.

There was significantly less support for Bush’s position that Washington should retain the most say: 26 percent of Republicans, 21 percent of Democrats, and only 17 percent of Independents agreed.

The three groups were also divided significantly in their confidence in Bush to bring the situation in Iraq to a successful conclusion.

Only 18 percent of Democrats said they thought Bush had a clear plan, compared to 58 percent of Republicans who did. Thirty percent of independents thought so, compared to 59 percent who said they thought he did not have such a plan.