Australia Defends Extra Troops for Iraq, Polls Sour [View All]

Feb 22, 2005 — By Michael Perry

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister John Howard defended on Wednesday his decision to change policy and send hundreds of extra troops to Iraq, as opinion polls showed Australians overwhelmingly opposed the move.

Howard, who announced on Tuesday 450 more soldiers would go to Iraq to guard Japanese engineers and train the Iraqi army, said he could not rule out further deployments. <snip>

A telephone survey of 17,000 people .. found 71 percent opposed the deployment compared with 29 percent in favor. <snip>

A survey .. found 69 percent of people believed the government was pushed by the United States to send extra troops.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=523360