'We were misled' - Britons

2003-06-14 10:47

London - A majority of British voters believe Britain and the United States deliberately exaggerated evidence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in order to win support for going to war, a poll published on Saturday showed.

A third of respondents to the Populus poll said they would be less inclined to trust Prime Minister Tony Blair in future because of this.

A total of 58% said they believed London and Washington misled the public over the threat posed by Iraq with 39% disagreeing.

Meanwhile, 34% said they would now be less inclined to trust Blair.

However, 70% said the war was justified because it removed Saddam Hussein from power, while 85% agreed with the statement that Iraq probably did have WMDs but either destroyed or hid them, according to the survey in The Times newspaper.

Populus interviewed 1 003 adults on Tuesday and Wednesday, the day Blair said he would not appear before a parliamentary foreign affairs committee probing claims that the government embellished intelligence on Iraq's WMD.

Blair told parliament that "in relation to the allegations that have been made, there is not a shred of truth" in them, adding that Foreign Secretary Jack Straw would appear before the committee. - Sapa-AFP

- SAPA