Britain and the Iraq Conflict

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that Britain's government rarely undertakes actions that are not either popular or predicted to be popular. Therefore, Tony Blair relies largely on "focus groups" designed to poll popular opinion before undertaking any serious legislative measures. The author points out that a war for public opinion in the polls is a war between demographics, where similar people will answer the opinion poll in like fashion. The paper concludes that, even if most Britons think of the Iraqi conflict in terms of a glorified television spectacle, their leaders have not forgotten the benefits Britain once enjoyed supporting the old regime.

From the Paper:

"According to the Reuters news organization, a poll released on Saturday, April 5th, 51% of Britons see "a high death toll as a price worth paying for victory in the nation's war against Iraq," according to the YouGov polling organization. This number falls only slightly short of the 55% of Britons that support the war, but is vastly different from pre-war polls, which found two thirds of UK residents opposed to declaring war on Iraq without United Nations support."

More papers on Britain and the Iraq Conflict:

• Analytical Essay # 145086 : "The British Empire and the Middle East"
• Book Review # 100929 : "Derek Gregory's "The Colonial Present"
• Analytical Essay # 27798 : "Cost of War"

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