War in Iraq was right - poll

Americans think the war in Iraq was the right decision by a 2-1 margin and are more inclined to approve of the job done by President George Bush following the capture of Saddam Hussein, a poll by US news agency the Associated Press has found.

They remain wary, however, of the continuing deadly conflict in Iraq.

Saddam’s capture appears to have given Bush’s re-election prospects a boost: the poll conducted for the AP by Ipsos-Public Affairs found that nearly half of respondents, 45%, said they would definitely support Bush’s re-election, while 31% said they would definitely vote against him.

A month ago, people were evenly divided on that question, at 37% definitely for and 37% definitely against.

Two-thirds in the poll said they were confident the United States would capture or kill Osama bin Laden, who is believed to have orchestrated the September 11, 2001 attacks. That figure is up from about half who felt that way in a poll in September.

More than six in 10 registered voters, 63%, said they approved of Bush’s handling of foreign policy and terrorism, up from 54% who felt that way in early December in an AP-Ipsos poll.

Bush’s overall job approval among voters was 59%, up from 53% in early December but still far below his mid-70s war ratings from earlier this year.

Asked whether they thought Saddam’s capture last weekend would cause violence against US troops to increase, decrease or stay about the same, the biggest group, 47%, said they expected no change. A third, 33%, said violence would decrease and 19% said it would increase.

People were evenly divided on whether Saddam would get a fairer trial from an international tribunal or from Iraqi courts.

Overall support for Iraq policy was strong in the poll.

Seven in 10 said they believed the Iraq war was an important part of the campaign against terrorism rather than a distraction, as some critics have charged. And by more than a 2-1 margin, people said the war was the right decision and not a mistake.