US public turns against war plan

American public opinion is turning skittish on the prospect of war with Iraq.

The latest poll shows a large decline in the number of people in favour of military action to topple Saddam Hussein if US allies and partners overseas are against the idea.

Just as Tony Blair was making headlines in Washington with his speech strongly backing Mr Bush, an ABC opinion poll gave alarming news to the White House: public support in America has gone in the opposite direction.

Whereas less than four weeks ago 69 per cent gave unconditional backing to an invasion of Iraq, today a scant 39 per cent did so. Even if the allies did give their approval, the decline in public solidarity is still striking: a bare majority of 56 per cent would be behind the president.

Strong sympathy in the wake of the 11 September attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon has been a mainstay of the robust policy aimed at overthrowing Saddam Hussein developed by the hawks in the Bush administration. But erosion has set in with an American public confusedby the apparent divisions between hawks and doves within the Bush team. The public are also unsettled by the shocks a prospective war is delivering to the stock market, which fell a heart-stopping 355 points yesterday, and to the strength of the US dollar against other major currencies.

Analysts cited nervousness about the results of a "go-it-alone" military strike against Iraq which might leave America isolated in world opinion.

Leading members of Congress were bearding Mr Bush in his White House office today to impress on him the risks and the political fallout across the country of his Iraq policy.

More than a dozen of Washington's most influential politicians were confronting the president, whose own phalanx of advisers include Vice-President Dick Cheney, a cheerleader for the war faction, and Condoleezza Rice, his national security adviser, another hawk. Later, Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld was closeted in secret session with members of the Senate, among them Republicans who oppose military action to remove Saddam. There is a growing momentum of opinion in the Senate that Mr Bush has simply failed to make a persuasive case for a war against Iraq, and that this is a major reason for the mounting anti-war sentiment among ordinary Americans.

They are especially chary of a unilateral mission carried out while the rest of the world looks on in disapproval, according to one senate source.

The seeming contradictions and anomalies noted in statements by administration officials also bothers the politicians, many of whom facing reelection in November. Ari Fleischer, the White House spokesman, gave new meaning to s u ch confusion when he announced: "Saddam Hussein has not lived up to his promise to allow inspectors into his country to check for weapons of mass destruction."

When asked if Mr. Hussein would "avoid regime change" if he does permit inspectors to inspect, Mr. Fleischer replied: "The policy of the United States is regime change, with or without inspectors."

Senators meeting Mr Bush today drew up a list of questions with the intention of embarrassing the president politically "without actually going on record as opposing a war," as on senator's aide put it.

The president does not actually have a war plan on his desk, but he has been briefed on the general outlines of an invasion which would have fewer troops than originally planned.