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<H1>Poll: Iraq war hiked terror fears</H1>
<H3>Leaders who opposed military action fare well in AP surveys</H3>
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<FONT size=1>Monday, October 11, 2004 Posted: 5:58 PM EDT (2158 GMT) </FONT><!-- /date --><BR></SPAN></FONT><B style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"></B></P>
<P><B style="FONT-SIZE: 14px">WASHINGTON (AP) -- More than two-thirds of the
people living in Australia, Britain and Italy -- three countries allied with the
United States in the Iraq war -- believe the war has increased the threat of
terrorism.</B></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P>Leaders of those countries -- prime ministers Tony Blair of Britain, John
Howard of Australia and Silvio Berlusconi of Italy -- all get low marks from
their people for their handling of the war on terrorism, an Associated
Press-Ipsos poll shows.</P>
<P>More than half of those in the United States, 52 percent, believe the Iraq
war has increased the threat of terrorism, while three in 10 in the United
States think it has decreased the threat -- a view promoted by President
Bush.</P>
<P>"In the context of the presidential campaign in the United States, this is
undeniably a blow for George W. Bush, since it shows that a majority of
Americans don't agree with the main justification for his policy in Iraq," said
Gilles Corman, research director at Ipsos-Inra of Belgium, who studies public
opinion trends across Europe.</P>
<P>In Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, a majority thought last winter
that the Iraq war was increasing the threat of terrorism. That number has
increased in each of the countries. Australians were not polled in the AP-Ipsos
project last winter.</P>
<P>In Australia and each of five European countries polled, only about one in 20
believe the Iraq war decreased the terror threat.</P>
<P>Leaders of several countries that opposed the Iraq war get strong ratings
from their citizens on how they are handling terrorism.</P>
<P>Political leaders in the Iraq war coalition have faced domestic political
pressure because of their stance on Iraq.</P>
<P>
<LI>Howard won re-election Saturday despite criticism in Australia of his
support for the Iraq war. The public was evenly divided on Howard's handling of
terrorism, with only 44 percent approving, but he apparently was helped by
Australia's strong economy.
<P></P>
<P></P>
<LI>Bush faces the voters again in early November in a campaign that is
increasingly focused on Iraq, with public doubts about the impact of the Iraq
war on the terrorism fight.
<P></P>
<P></P>
<LI>In Britain, the poll found only one-third approve of Blair's handling of the
war on terror. Friday's announcement of the beheading in Iraq of British hostage
Kenneth Bigley is likely to increase pressure on Blair.
<P></P>
<P></P>
<LI>Berlusconi has seen Italians' fears of terrorism increase sharply since last
winter -- from seven in 10 worried about terrorism in February to almost nine in
10 now. Only about one-third of Italians approve of Berlusconi's handling of
terrorism. Two Italian women taken hostage in Iraq were freed last month, and an
Iraqi who lived in Italy was executed by kidnappers in Iraq early this month.
Berlusconi has pledged to lead the country until the end of his term in 2006.
<P></P>
<P>In contrast, the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Mexico and Spain all get
high marks for their handling of terrorism, with a majority in each country
saying they approve, according to polls conducted for the AP by Ipsos, an
international polling firm.</P>
<P>French President Jacques Chirac, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, Mexican
President Vicente Fox and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero
have all publicly opposed the U.S.-led war in Iraq. Canadian Prime Minister Paul
Martin has been less outspoken in his criticism of the war than some of the
European leaders, but Canada didn't send troops to Iraq.</P>
<P>The leaders position on the Iraq war is only one of many factors that could
affect public perception of their handling of terrorism.</P><A name=1></A><A
name=rv1></A>
<H3>Heightened feeling of insecurity</H3>
<P>"The proportion of people worried by the terrorist threat has increased in
most of the countries ... since February," said Corman of Ipsos in Belgium.
"People feel more and more insecure."</P>
<P>Fears of terrorism increased in seven of the eight countries polled last
winter and again this fall.</P>
<P>Only in Germany did those worries ease this year. Terrorism fears were high
early this year after the killing of 14 German tourists in 2002 at a Tunisian
resort and the revelation that some September 11 hijackers were part of a terror
cell in Hamburg.</P>
<P>But public debate in Germany this year has focused on reforms of the social
system, labor regulations and the health-care system, moving discussion of
terrorism out of the spotlight, said Christian Holst, director of public affairs
for Ipsos-Germany.</P>
<P>Overall, terrorism and the war in Iraq are likely to stay at the center of
public debate in most of the European countries in coming months, said Pierre
Giacometti, chief executive and co-director of Ipsos.</P>
<P>The AP-Ipsos telephone polls of about 1,000 adults in each of the eight
countries except Mexico were taken between September 23 and October 2 and have a
margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. The poll in
Mexico of 1,030 adults was taken face-to-face from September 23-26 and has a
margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage
points.</P></LI></DIV></BODY></HTML>