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New Poll Shows Public Thinks It Was

Juan Cole 11/14/2003

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New Poll Shows Public thinks it was Misled on Iraq

From The Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland:

“No Clear Consensus For or Against Decision to Go To War

Support for Iraq Reconstruction Undaunted

For Release: Nov. 13, 2003, 12:15 pm Contact: Steven Kull (202) 232-7500

College Park, MD: According to a new PIPA-Knowledge Networks poll, a majority of

Americans (55%) believe that the Bush administration went to war on the basis of

incorrect assumptions. An overwhelming 87% said that, before the war, the Bush

administration portrayed Iraq as an imminent threat, while a majority (58%) believes that

the administration did not have evidence for this and only 42% believe that it was the

case. . .

A majority of Americans believe that the evidence that the US had on Iraq did not meet

the proper international standards for going to war without UN approval. While most

believe that countries have the right to go to war if they have evidence they are in

imminent danger of being attacked with WMD, only a minority also believes that the US

had such evidence (32%) or, given what is known now, that Iraq in fact posed such a

threat (35%) . . .

A strong majority (67%) believes that countries have the right to overthrow governments,

without UN approval, if they have strong evidence that the government is providing

substantial support to a terrorist group that has attacked them. However only 38% both

believe this and think the US had strong evidence that Iraq was providing substantial

support to al-Qaeda.“

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About the Author

Juan Cole is the founder and chief editor of Informed Comment. He is Richard P. Mitchell Professor of History at the University of Michigan He is author of, among many other books, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires and The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Follow him on Twitter at @jricole or the Informed Comment Facebook Page

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