Reason for War Against Iraq
Q. What do you think was the main reason John Howard’s Government joined the war in Iraq?
Total |
|
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
Vote other |
|
April 2013 |
|
They believed Iraq had weapons of mass destruction |
18% |
17% |
24% |
11% |
13% |
18% |
||
To ensure access to Iraq’s oil |
11% |
14% |
8% |
13% |
14% |
9% |
||
To support the USA |
53% |
54% |
48% |
59% |
65% |
56% |
||
To remove Saddam Hussein |
7% |
6% |
11% |
3% |
3% |
7% |
||
Don’t know |
11% |
10% |
9% |
13% |
5% |
10% |
A majority (53%) thought that the main reason Australia joined the war in Iraq was to support the USA. Only 18% thought the main reason was that they believed Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. These results are not significantly different from those when this question was asked in April last year.
Reason for war against Iraq
Q. What do you think was the main reason John Howard’ s Government joined the war in Iraq?
Total
|
Vote Labor |
Vote Lib/Nat |
Vote Greens |
|
They believed Iraq had weapons of mass destruction |
18% |
15% |
26% |
5% |
To ensure access to Iraq’s oil |
9% |
12% |
6% |
8% |
To support the USA |
56% |
62% |
49% |
76% |
To remove Saddam Hussein |
7% |
6% |
8% |
2% |
Don’t know |
10% |
5% |
11% |
8% |
A majority (56%) thought that the main reason Australia joined the war in Iraq was to support the USA. Only 18% thought the main reason was that they believed Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.
Those most likely to think that the main reason was they believed Iraq had weapons of mass destruction were Liberal/National voters (26%) and people aged 65+ (30%).

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