Most Britons back Iraqi toll inquiry-poll

[cal04]

A majority of Britons want an investigation into the number of Iraqis killed in their country since the 2003 invasion by U.S.-led forces, according to a poll released on Wednesday. The research, commissioned by the Count the Casualties campaign, found nearly four times as many British people backed the call for an inquiry as opposed it.

The telephone poll conducted by MORI took a nationally representative sample of 1,012 adults aged over 18 throughout Britain during three days in late January. Asked if an investigation should be held into total Iraqi casualties since the 2003 invasion, 35 percent "strongly supported" and 24 percent "tended to support" the idea. Only 15 percent were opposed.


The coalition of groups that commissioned the poll called on the government to order an inquiry. "Failing to count casualties shows a fundamental disrespect for human life, allows the human cost of the invasion to grow uncontrollably and tells Iraqis that they simply don't matter," Gerard Rosenberg, director of Waging Peace, said in a statement.British Prime Minister Tony Blair has previously rejected calls for an independent inquiry, saying he saw no need for one.

Any totalling of the Iraqi civilian war dead could embarrass Blair ahead of a general election expected by May in a country that mostly opposed the war.Blair's reputation has suffered over intelligence from British spy services used to justify the invasion of Iraq, and the subsequent failure to find any weapons of mass destruction Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was said to have stockpiled.


http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L02561435.htm

[DavidDvorkin]

1. What would such a poll show in the US?

A different outcome, I'm afraid. Most Americans don't know and don't care how many Iraqis we killed. They still believe the number is dwarfed by the number killed by Saddam and the "insurgents" and that that somehow justifies everything.