New Zealanders still dead set against Iraq war

New Zealanders remain strongly opposed to the war in Iraq despite US forces' removal of Saddam Hussein.

In a Herald-DigiPoll survey taken this month nearly 56 per cent believed the US was wrong to attack Iraq without United Nations approval.

The figure is only slightly lower than the 58.3 per cent who were opposed to unilateral US action in a Herald-DigiPoll survey taken before the war.

A decisive majority still think the New Zealand Government was right to refuse support for the war when the US went ahead without UN backing.

By a slight margin, 51.3 per cent, most people believed the US was justified in complaining when Prime Minister Helen Clark commented that the war would not have happened had Democrat Al Gore been elected President.

And a clear majority, 71.2 per cent, said Helen Clark did the right thing in apologising to President George W. Bush.

The poll of 802 eligible voters was taken before the US announced that New Zealand would not be considered for a free trade deal, a decision a US Government spokesman blamed on Helen Clark's comments.

In the post-war poll, the attitudes of men and women were markedly divided. Among women, 64.6 per cent were opposed to the US action, and 27.8 per cent supported it.

By contrast, men were evenly split, 47.9 per cent for the war and 47.6 per cent against it.

Women were less sympathetic to the US complaints over Helen Clark's comment. While 41.5 per cent felt the US was justified, 42.2 per cent believed it had no cause for complaint. Most men, 62 per cent, believed it was justified.

Even among men who supported the war, however, some were opposed to New Zealand having a part in it. All told, 59.6 per cent of men thought the Government was right to take no part in it, as did 77 per cent of women.

Two thirds of those surveyed believed the campaign against Saddam was waged primarily in US interests.

The poll also asked whether people thought Saddam and Osama bin Laden would be caught by the year's end.

Only 16.7 per cent were confident of Saddam's capture and just 9.1 per cent expected bin Laden to be found. In each case less than 2 per cent believed they were dead.

The poll was taken from May 15 to 18. The margin of sampling error is 3.5 per cent.

Herald Feature: Iraq