December 28, 2006

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - A majority of adults in five European countries and the United States believe the coalition effort should come to an end, according to a poll by Harris Interactive for France 24 and Le Monde. 90 per cent of respondents in France and 84 per cent of respondents in Spain support the withdrawal of all troops from Iraq.

Britain is next on the list with 83 per cent, followed by Germany with 82 per cent, Italy with 77 per cent, and the U.S. with 66 per cent.

The coalition effort against Saddam Hussein’s regime was launched in March 2003. At least 3,224 soldiers—including 2,977 Americans and 126 Britons—have died during the military operation. In December 2005, Iraqi voters renewed their National Assembly. In May, Shiite United Iraqi Alliance member Nouri al-Maliki officially took over as prime minister.

On Dec. 6, the Iraq Study Group—a bipartisan panel of experts—presented its findings on how to deal with the situation in Iraq. The ten members called for a quicker process to train Iraqi forces, engaging with Iran and Syria in a dialogue aimed at stabilizing Iraq, and pulling back U.S. combat troops by early 2008.

Luis Rodríguez Zapatero of the Socialist Worker’s Party (PSOE) was sworn in as president in April 2004, following his party’s victory in the legislative election. Zapatero ordered the return of Spain’s 1,420 soldiers stationed in Iraq just hours after naming his cabinet.

During his tenure as Italy’s prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi committed more than 2,000 Italian soldiers to the war in Iraq—in what once was the third largest contingent of the U.S.-led coalition—who participated in peacekeeping duties. In March 2005, Berlusconi announced "a gradual reduction of the number of our soldiers in Iraq." In May, new Italian prime minister Romano Prodi ordered a full withdrawal.

Support for the withdrawal of coalition troops from Iraq

France

90%

Spain

84%

Britain

83%

Germany

82%

Italy

77%

United States

66%

Source: Harris Interactive / France 24 / Le Monde
Methodology: Online interviews with 12,570 adults in Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United States, conducted from Nov. 30 to Dec. 9, 2006. Margin of error for individual countries is 3 per cent.