Ten years after one million people marched through the streets of London on February 15, 2003 to protest against the invasion of Iraq in one of the biggest anti-war demonstrations in living memory, an overwhelming majority of Britons still believe that the war was “sold on a false prospectus’’ and “delivered little but bloodshed’’.
The findings contradict official claims that removing Saddam Hussein was worth it and that Iraq is a better place today.
According to a Guardian/ICM poll, published on Friday to mark the tenth anniversary of the London March, 55 per cent of the people agree that “the London marchers were right’’.
“That is almost twice the 28% who believe the marchers were wrong, on the basis that the war’s achievement in ‘toppling the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein’ eventually made the world a better place’’, The Guardian said.
Even a majority of Conservative voters, most of whom supported the invasion at the time, believe that the marchers were right with 57 per cent saying “yes’’.
“Ten years on, there is no partisan slant in the public’s opposition to the war,’’ sad the paper recalling how in the run-up to the invasion the nation was deeply divided on the issue.
The poll also shows that most Britons are opposed to the broader principle of “liberal interventionism’’ propagated by Tony Blair, former Labour Prime Minister.
Some 48 per cent said they believed “military interventions solve little, create enemies and generally do more harm than good” while 45 per cent said “through its armed forces, Britain generally acts as a force for good in the world”.
Keywords: invasion of Iraq, Conservative voters, Saddam Hussein
Tipu Qaimkhani calls it right. The UK, despite the million marchers,
was one of the very few countries in Europe where polls indicated a
clear (if not huge) majority in favour of the attack on Iraq.
The fact that the British in particular were humiliated in Basra and
that the "Allies" lost the trillion dollar war leaving 5,000 troops
dead 50,000 maimed is the main reason for this revision of opinion.
The one million murdered Iraqis would count for nothing had the West
won.
Success has many fathers while failure is an orphan. Not many people would admit to supporting a lost war.
although presently we are living in the so called democratic and soverigien world where every country has the freedom to live and deal its affairs but realilty is far from that where a few countries are penetrating into other countries by over emphasing the issue of the political and the terror infleunces with the intention to get political and stratergic overhand.
I'm happy to see that the citizens are coming to their senses before their power
clouded politicians. However, it is unfortunate that they were incapable of stopping
their politicians which has led to the loss of thousands of lives and many losing their
lives everyday. Further, it only aggravated the economic crisis of the West. Mr. Hussien, at least checked the spread of extremism and maintained communal
harmony, though despotic. What US has gained from the war are few oil wells, but I wonder if the extractions are profitable as they have to spend on security not only at the wells but also in their home... Simply put beneficiaries are the oil companies and politicians, losers are none but the common citizens.
I believe the people of Britain have another chance with Syria, I really fear the security of the world if Syria falls (also economic implications...!!!)
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