Australians turn against Iraq war as election looms

4.00pm

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

A Newspoll survey, published on Tuesday, showed for the first time most Australians -- 50 per cent -- believe it was not worth going to Iraq while 40 per cent still backed the conservative government's decision. The rest were uncommitted.

Three months ago 46 per cent of Australians believed the war was justified while 45 per cent said it was not.

The poll came amid a raft of allegations and photographs about US and British troops mistreating Iraqi prisoners.

"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," said University of Queensland political analyst Clive Bean.

Prime Minister John Howard, a close ally of US President George W Bush, sent 2000 military personnel to last year's invasion and 850 Australian troops remain in and around Iraq.

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 Labour party, and it has emerged as a key issue ahead of an election tipped for October.

The Newspoll, conducted last weekend, found Australians were divided, with 45 per cent of 1200 respondents backing Howard's plan to leave the troops there until the middle of next year while 47 per cent supported Labour 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 on this," Bean told Reuters.

Howard's government and centre-left Labour are neck-and-neck in opinion polls.

A separate Newspoll survey of 1137 people, published in The Australian newspaper, found support for the government and Labour was unchanged in the past two weeks with both at 42 per cent.

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

"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."

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq