Latham wins support for 'dangerous Bush' attack By Tim Colebatch Canberra
Almost half the Australian public agree with Mark Latham that US President George Bush is "incompetent and dangerous", according to a poll.
An ACNielsen AgePoll of 1363 people taken last weekend found that 45 per cent of Australians agree with the blistering attack by the new Opposition Leader on the head of Australia's most important ally, while 52 per cent disagree. Mr Latham made the comment well before he became Opposition Leader.
The poll found that 51 per cent of Australians believe Labor was right to oppose Australia's involvement in the Iraq war, while 45 per cent say it was wrong.
In January, when debate centred on whether the UN would sanction force against Iraq, only 6 per cent of Australians responding to an AgePoll were prepared to send Australian troops to war against Iraq. On April 1, 12 days after the first bombs had dropped, support for the war had grown to 44 per cent.
In the latest AgePoll, opponents of the war outnumber supporters in every state except Queensland and in every age group.
The startling findings suggest that Mr Bush's decision to invade Iraq despite global opposition has badly damaged his support within Australia, one of his country's closest allies.
It also indicates that the Iraq war has polarised Australians, and not only on party lines.
The poll found 26 per cent of Coalition voters believe Mr Bush is incompetent and dangerous, and 31 per cent think Labor was right to oppose Australian involvement in Iraq.
But conversely, 33 per cent of Labor voters disagree with their leader's assessment of the US President - which he refused to back down from last week - while 27 per cent think their party was wrong to oppose sending Australian troops to Iraq.
The narrow majority against the war, however, has done little to dent voters' preference for the Coalition over Labor on foreign policy and defence issues. A commanding 61 per cent of voters prefer the Coalition on national security issues. Only 31 per cent prefer Labor.
On national security issues, voters prefer the Coalition by a 58-35 margin, and on border protection by 56-34. The Coalition also has a whopping lead on economic management issues, while Labor is the voters' preferred party on health and hospitals, education, the environment and employment.
US ambassador Tom Schieffer declined to comment on the poll findings, as did Mr Latham and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer.
Former senior foreign affairs and defence officials were not surprised that opinion had swung against the Iraq war. Former Foreign Affairs Department head Richard Woolcott said Australians were "led to war on the basis of false pretences and selective use of intelligence" and the critics had been proved right.
His predecessor, Stuart Harris, now at the Australian National University, said many people were worried by the zeal of crusaders in the Bush Administration to "reshape the world on their terms". But he said their failures in Iraq and Afghanistan may prove a turning point.
Australian Strategic Policy Institute director Hugh White said the strength of Australians' views on Mr Bush was startling, but he believed it would not spill over to rejection of the alliance. "The Australian-US alliance has been through tough times before," Mr White said.
"It's not surprising that opinion has turned on Iraq, because right now the war on Iraq is looking like a mistake."
A breakdown of the poll findings shows clear divisions in Australians' views of Mr Bush on age, gender and geography. A narrow majority aged under 40 believe the US President is incompetent and dangerous, but a clear majority of those over 55 disagree.
Women are evenly divided on whether Mr Bush is a dangerous incompetent, but men as a group reject the charge. Queensland voters adamantly reject the charge, but elsewhere voters are almost evenly divided.