By Richard Morin and Claudia Deane
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, March 21, 2003; Page A25
A substantial majority of Americans support the war with Iraq, but the public
is divided over whether Iraqi President Saddam Hussein must be killed, captured
or merely removed from power for the United States and its allies to be
successful, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll. More than seven in 10 endorsed the decision of President Bush to wage war on
Iraq. A similar proportion expressed confidence that the United States and its
allies are right to use military force to topple Hussein and rid Iraq of its
weapons of mass destruction. And two out of three said they believe Bush had
worked hard enough to try to find a diplomatic solution before ordering the
attack. "I didn't vote for George Bush, but I strongly support him, and if
anything I think he should have acted sooner," said Rick Jackson, 31, a
manager at an engineering company in Bradenton, Fla. "I think he exhausted
all channels to appease those who don't agree with us." But one in four Americans disagree, including Julie Fanselow, 41, a travel
writer in Twin Falls, Idaho, who attended an antiwar vigil yesterday evening.
"I would rank this as among the saddest days of my life. . . . The whole
idea of striking at another country that has not attacked us, and the idea of
waging a war that we don't even know the cost of, at a time when we're facing
such economic distress here at home -- it all pains me, it really does." The survey also found that about half of those interviewed said Hussein must
be captured or killed for the war to be declared a success, while more than four
in 10 said it would be sufficient if the Iraqi leader were removed from power.
"I feel he has to be captured or killed," said Ross Bethard, 60, a
Ford Motor Co. employee who lives outside Cleveland and is cautiously supportive
of the Iraq invasion. "I feel that he is going to reappear someplace else
if they don't capture him." A slight majority -- 53 percent -- said the war would be justified even if
troops failed to uncover weapons of mass destruction -- Bush's major rationale
for the war. But more than a third said the United States and its allies need to
find banned weapons to validate the decision to use force against Iraq. "They need to find them. If they came out and showed us that he had all
these weapons, then I could say to myself that we were justified going to
war," said Charlene Boudreau, 65, a retired receiving clerk in Enfield,
Conn., who said she is opposed to Bush's decision to go to war. A total of 506 randomly selected adults were interviewed last night. The
margin of sampling error was plus or minus 5 percentage points. Bush's overall job approval rating got a modest boost as Americans once again
joined ranks around their leader at a time of national crisis. Sixty-seven
percent said they approved of the job that Bush was doing as president, up from
62 percent less than three weeks ago. About two in three said they approved of
the way Bush was handling the situation in Iraq, unchanged since the president's
speech on Monday giving Hussein 48 hours to go into exile. Most Americans expect that the duration of the war will be measured in months,
not days or weeks, the poll found. More than half said the fighting would last
at least several months, and about one in five predicted that it would last a
year or longer. About six in 10 said the United States is right to attack Iraq
now, while one in four said the allies should have waited longer. The first full day of fighting seemed to calm the nation's earlier fears
about casualties, as the proportion fearing "significant" numbers of
U.S. military casualties dropped to 37 percent from 62 percent two weeks ago. Americans were divided over whether the United States should strike Iraqi
military targets even if they are located in areas where civilians might be
killed. About half said the United States should do so, and nearly as many
disagreed. "I really think it's horrible that Saddam has to place his military
weapons in situations that would endanger his own people; it shows what type of
a person he is," said Damian Telencio, 26, a trainer for Blue Cross/Blue
Shield in Columbia, SC. "I hate to see civilians die. But on September 11
we saw a lot of our own civilians die. It's war. It does happen," Telencio
said. Three in four said they were either "very confident" or "somewhat
confident" that the United States and the allied countries that form Bush's
"coalition of the willing" were doing the right thing in waging war
against Iraq -- virtually identical to the proportion of Americans who supported
the decision to attack Iraq in 1991, when the United States had the endorsement
of the United Nations. Two in three said that Bush has done a good job of explaining his reasons for
going to war. And an equally large majority -- 67 percent -- agreed that U.S.
vital interests are at stake in the confrontation with Iraq. The public rallied in a similar manner after the start of the Persian Gulf
War in January 1991. A poll conducted the night after the first airstrikes found
that three in four Americans approved of the decision to go to war, approved of
the assault's timing and said the United States had done all it could
diplomatically.