Most Americans now believe Iraq war unjustified

AFP, Washington
A majority of US voters no longer believe the war in Iraq was justified, but even more reject the idea of laying down a deadline for the withdrawal of American troops, according to a poll published Friday in The Los Angeles Times.

Fifty-three percent of those surveyed said they did not feel the situation in Iraq had merited war, while 43 percent said it had -- numbers essentially reversed since the same question was asked in November and March last year.

At the same time, however, 73 percent of those polled said they were opposed to the US administration fixing a specific date for pulling US troops out of Iraq.

And 41 percent said any decision on whether or not to reduce or increase the number of American soldiers should be left to the Iraq interim government that will assume sovereignty on June 30.