Most Americans still favour more time for inspections in Iraq

NEW YORK: Most Americans questioned in a new CBS poll still favor giving UN inspectors more time to do their work in Iraq.

Fewer than half of those polled said the United States should move ahead if France, Russia or China veto a US-sponsored resolution in the Security Council seen as opening the way to war.

According to the survey, 52 percent polled believe the United States should give the United Nations and weapons inspectors more time, while 44 percent say the United States should take military action soon.

The poll was taken after President George W. Bush’s press conference Thursday and Friday’s report by UN weapons inspectors.

A week earlier, 35 percent supported taking action soon and 60 percent said weapons inspectors should have more time.

The survey also showed more people now believe Iraq poses an immediate threat to the United States. Fifty percent viewed Iraq as a threat that requires military action now, up from 45 percent a week earlier.

But there was relatively scant support for the United States acting alone in a military strike against Iraq.

Sixty percent said they believe the United States needs to take into account allies’ views before taking military action. Thirty-six percent said the United States should do what its government thinks is right no matter what allies think.

Nonetheless, two-thirds of those surveyed approved of military action against Iraq to remove President Saddam Hussein from power, about the same number as has supported such action in every CBS poll since last year.

The poll consulted 1010 adults by telephone on March 7-9 and had a margin of error of plus or minus three percent.

Another poll released Monday found support for an anticipated US war on Iraq had risen to 57 percent, even though voters believe Iraq is only the third worst threat after Al Qaeda and North Korea.

But the latest Zogby America poll also showed that despite the increase in overall backing for the war, President George W. Bush’s job performance approval rating had slipped from 57 percent to 54 percent since February. —AFP

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