September 21, 2004
Most Britons want Prime Minister Tony Blair to set a date for the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq, according to a poll for the Guardian newspaper on Tuesday.
Seven out of 10 of those polled by ICM said Blair should set a deadline for a pullout of the 8,500 British soldiers in Iraq. By contrast, an ICM-Guardian poll in May found 45 percent of voters believed British troops should remain in Iraq "for as long as necessary". Blair, who is U.S. President George W. Bush's strongest ally in the Iraq war, said on Sunday that British and U.S. forces would only leave once Iraq is stable.
More than 300 Iraqis have been killed in a surge of violence in the last 10 days. The unrest has cast doubt on whether elections planned for January can go ahead, and a series of kidnappings of foreigners has put pressure on the countries operating in Iraq.
American hostage Eugene Armstrong was beheaded and a video of his killing was posted on the internet on Monday. A militant groups led by Al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has also threatened to kill Armstrong's fellow hostages-American Jack Hensley and Briton Kenneth Bigley. Their captors have called on the U.S. authorities to free women prisoners in Iraqi jails.
Bigley's son Craig appealed to the British premier on Monday to meet the kidnappers' demands. "I ask Tony Blair personally to consider the amount of bloodshed already suffered," he told BBC News 24 television. "Please meet the demands and release my father." Blair told a news conference on Monday that Britain's response "has got to be to stand firm".
ICM interviewed 1,005 adults aged 18 and over between Sept. 17 and 19 for the Guardian poll.
More Information on the Movement Against War and Occupation in Iraq
More Information on the Iraq Crisis
