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Australians reconsider their role in Iraq

"The publicity at the moment about Iraq is negative with images of the good guys committing atrocities against Iraqi prisoners which turns people against it."

Clive Bean, an analyst at the University of Queensland

Australians have turned against the US-led war in Iraq as the violence gets worse, according to a new poll yesterday, with the fate of Australian troops there shaping up as a key issue before an election this year.

A Newspoll survey showed for the first time the number of Australians opposed to joining the war was greater than those in favor, with 50 percent against and 40 percent backing the conservative government's decision to send troops.

The rest were uncommitted.

Three months ago 46 percent of Australians believed it was worth going to Iraq while 45 percent saw the war as unjustified.

The poll came amid a raft of allegations and photographs about US and British troops mistreating Iraqi prisoners and with parts of Iraq descending into chaos over a year after the major combat was declared over.

"The publicity at the moment about Iraq is negative with images of the good guys committing atrocities against Iraqi prisoners which turns people against it," University of Queensland political analyst Clive Bean said.

Prime Minister John Howard, a close ally of US President George W. Bush, sent 2,000 military personnel to last year's invasion and 850 Australian troops remain in and around Iraq.

A further 40 troops were sent to Iraq this week to help train the country's armed forces with the US-led coalition due to handover power to an interim Iraqi government on June 30.

The question of when the troops will come home has created a sharp divide between the eight-year-old conservative government and a newly reinvigorated opposition Labor party, and it has emerged as a key issue ahead of an election tipped for October.

Spain withdrew its troops from Iraq in line with a promise by new Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero to leave unless the UN took political and military control of the country by June 30.

The Newspoll found Australians were divided on withdrawing troops, with 45 percent of 1,200 people backing Howard's plan to leave troops there until mid-2005, while 47 percent supported Labor leader Mark Latham's plan to bring them home by Christmas.

"There is clearly increasing discussions in terms of Australia's role in Iraq in Australian politics with the opposition distancing itself from the government," Bean said.

Howard's government and center-left Labor are neck-and-neck in opinion polls ahead of the looming election.

A separate Newspoll survey of 1,137 people, published in The Australian newspaper, found support for the government and Labor was unchanged in the past two weeks with both at 42 percent.

However Howard, 64, a veteran politician after 30 years in parliament, widened his lead as preferred prime minister by one percentage point to 49 percent while support for Latham, 43, a new generation leader for Labor, dipped one to 36 percent.

"But the prime minister is always ahead on this scale and Latham is rating strongly for an opposition leader," Bean said.

"The election is going to be a real contest and it would take a very brave person to be predicting the outcome at the moment."
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