Shaped By The Iraq Experience, U.S. Opinion Leaders Demand UN Approval To Legitimize The Use Of Military Force

Washington, D.C. -- Lessons learned from the war in Iraq have strengthened U.S. opinion leaders' preference for multilateral over unilateral action. Nearly all opinion leaders (97%) say the U.S. should take an active part in world affairs and three-quarters (76%) reject the idea of the U.S. as a world policeman. UN support is seen as a precondition for supporting preemptive military attacks. Respondents say a country should only have the right to use force without UN approval in the case of genocide (73%) or when defending a country that has been attacked (71%). Rising Opposition To Unilateral U.S. Interventions After the Iraq experience, opinion leaders have turned more strongly against unilateral U.S. intervention abroad. While in 2002 six-in-ten (61%) favored toppling unfriendly regimes that support terrorist groups, now only 38% favor it. [+] click to enlarge There is also rising opposition to having long-term U.S. military bases abroad, particularly in Pakistan (74%), Saudi Arabia (69%), Iraq (68%) and Uzbekistan (63%). [+] click to enlarge Demands For Stronger Evidence To Justify War Assessing the consequences of the decision to go to war, opinion leaders now demand that higher standards be met before war is declared. Only one-in-ten (10%) says countries have the right to go to war "if they have strong evidence" that the other country is acquiring weapons of mass destruction. The majority demands a higher threshold of having strong evidence of imminent attacks (61%). Similarly, opinion leaders are more likely now to say the use of U.S. troops can be justified for humanitarian causes such as being part of an international peacekeeping force in Afghanistan (92%) or enforcing a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians (81%). Opinion Leaders also say it can be justified to use troops to stop governments from committing genocide and killing large numbers of its own people (86%) and if North Korea attacks South Korea (82%). [+] click to enlarge Opinion Leaders Back A Stronger Role For The UN The survey also shows a marked rise in support among U.S. opinion leaders for the United Nations. Two-in-five (40%) say strengthening the U.N. should be a very important priority for the U.S. (up from 28% in 2002). UN support is seen as a precondition for supporting preemptive military attacks. Opinion leaders assess that a country should only have the right to use force without UN approval in the case of genocide or defending a country that has been attacked. Furthermore, 78% say the U.S. should be willing to make decisions within the U.N., even if the resulting policy is not the preference of the U.S. And three-quarters (75%) say the UN - not the U.S.- should take the lead in building democracy in Iraq. [+] click to enlarge Diplomacy And Economic Policies Preferred To The Use Of Force To Fight Terrorism The survey also finds greater acceptance among opinion leaders toward using soft preemptive policies rather than force are also mentioned. Nearly three-quarters (73%) say that in efforts to fight terrorism, the U.S. should emphasize diplomatic and economic methods more - and military efforts less. Opinion leaders support softer approaches such as poverty alleviation policies to attain global stability. Two-thirds (64%) say helping less developed nations should be a "very important" goal for the U.S., up from 42% in 2002. Similarly, most condemn the use of torture even in the investigation of terrorist attacks, eight-in- ten (85%) say rules against torture should be maintained, and 64% (50% in 2002) oppose the use of racial profiling in airport security checks. For topline results and more information about this study, please contact The Chicago Council on Foreign Relations at: The Chicago Council on Foreign Relations 116 South Michigan Avenue, 10th Floor Chicago, Illinois 60603-6097 Phone: (312) 726-3860 Fax: (312) 726-4491 www.ccfr.org Ipsos-Public Affairs conducted the Opinion Leaders Poll for the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations. Between June 23 - July 20, 2004, Ipsos-Public Affairs interviewed a sample of 450 respondents, selected from a list of prominent professionals.¹Note¹Respondents were selected according to CCFR's definitions and include: 51 Religious leaders, 38 Business representatives, 75 Educators, 25 Special interest group leaders, 29 Foreign policy institute leaders, 100 Congress personnel, including 31 from the Senate and 69 from the House. (Note: Congress is weighted down to n=65 in the total figures), 41 Executive branch representatives, 32 Labor leaders and 59 Media representatives adults nationwide. 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