Poll - America needs more proof before war

WASHINGTON -- President Bush has yet to convince Americans that war with Iraq is justified, according to a poll that suggests the White House has much work to do to win public support for military force.

"I think a little more diplomacy would be in order," said Creig Crippen, an 84-year-old retired Air Force veteran from Deland, Fla.

There is widespread support for removing Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, but that support is conditional on proof of a threat from Iraq and on the support of allies, said the poll by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. The poll was released Thursday as the United Nations said it had discovered empty chemical warheads south of Baghdad.

Two-thirds or more in the Pew poll and other recent polls say they favor military action against Iraq -- but only under certain circumstances.

For example, the Pew poll suggested that support for war is strong, 76 percent, if United Nations inspectors find nuclear, biological or chemical weapons. The support is evenly split if they find no weapons but determine Iraq has the ability to make these weapons.

Who must prove?

The public does not buy the administration's argument that Iraq must prove it does not have these weapons. Almost two-thirds, 63 percent, believed that Iraq's failure to show such proof would be insufficient reason for a war.

More than half, 53 percent, say the president has not yet explained clearly what's at stake to justify the United States using military force to end Saddam's rule, according to the poll. Some 42 percent say he has.

The number who say Bush has clearly explained what's at stake has eroded since his September address to the United Nations, when it was 52-37 saying he had given a clear explanation.

At the White House, spokesman Scott McClellan said Bush continues to work with other countries on a peaceful solution.

"But if Saddam Hussein will not disarm peacefully and it becomes necessary to disarm him by force, then what we would be doing is not only disarming a real and growing threat, but liberating Iraqi people from a brutal, oppressive regime," McClellan said.

The Pew poll of 1,218 adults was taken Jan. 8-12 and has an error margin of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

"I believe that this is an action that is due because of Saddam Hussein's complete lack of respect for the democratic world and his people," said Philip Pederson a 65-year-old sales manager from Wheatland, Calif. He is a Vietnam veteran.

Though the president has been making his case against Iraq in earnest since last September, White House officials say the heavier lifting doesn't begin until Jan. 28, when Bush delivers his State of the Union address. That's one day after U.N. weapons inspectors issue their preliminary report.

The drumbeat for war continues Jan. 31, when Bush meets at Camp David with his staunchest anti-Iraq ally, British Prime Minister Tony Blair. If Bush chooses to go to war, whenever that might be, there would be a final, Oval Office address in which he would spell out reasons, White House officials say.

Democratic lawmakers like Michigan Sen. Carl Levin caution that the United States "must not prejudge the outcome" of the inspections.

Some in the public will be skeptical no matter what the president tells them about Iraq.

"I think they've made it very clear," said 23-year-old Rachel Wheatley of Washington, "that they're not really interested in what the inspectors have to say."