Most think U.S. partly to blame for Sept.11
By SHAWN MCCARTHY
Globe and Mail
Saturday, September 7, 2002
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A vast majority of Canadians believes the United States bears at least some responsibility for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks because of U.S. policies in the Middle East and around the globe, according to a Globe and Mail/CTV poll.

And a significant, but smaller, majority said Canada is doing enough to support the United States in the war on terrorism, the Ipsos-Reid survey released yesterday says.

The poll was released as Prime Minister Jean Chrétien prepares to head to New York next week for the first anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center that killed almost 3,000 civilians.

On Monday, Mr. Chrétien will meet U.S. President George W. Bush in Detroit to discuss border security and ways to relieve congestion caused by increased vigilance at the border. The two leaders also are expected to talk about U.S. threats to attack Iraq and topple the regime of Saddam Hussein.

Mr. Bush is trying to build support from U.S. allies for an attack, and has won a promise of help from British Prime Minister Tony Blair, but not from Mr. Chrétien.

Mr. Chrétien has been criticized — particularly in the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11 — for being cautious in his support for the U.S. antiterrorism effort.

In an interview with CTV's Question Period to be aired on Sunday, Deputy Prime Minister John Manley echoes Mr. Chrétien's doubts about whether Iraq should be a target in the war on terrorism.

"We haven't been in the camp with Tony Blair and others who say there should be a pre-emptive attack," Mr. Manley said. "We've said there should be, in order to consider this part of the war against terrorism, evidence that Iraq is somehow connected to al-Qaeda.

"We have not signed on for the change-the-regime movement in Iraq," Mr. Manley said.

Paul Cellucci, the U.S. ambassador to Canada, said the Bush administration recognizes that it needs to persuade many of its allies about its case against Iraq.

"We've said all along we are ready to make the case," Mr. Cellucci said. "That's what the President will be doing next week."

But John Wright, vice-president of Ipsos-Reid, said Mr. Chrétien has better reflected the public mood in Canada than the more bellicose opposition leaders and pundits have.

In the Ipsos-Reid survey — which polled 1,000 Canadians last week — 69 per cent of respondents said the U.S. shares some of the responsibility for the attacks, while 15 per cent said all of the responsibility sits on American shoulders. The attacks killed thousands of civilians and U.S. military personnel at the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington.

Fourteen per cent said the United States does not bear any responsibility for the attacks.

In the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11, critics were pilloried for suggesting the United States bore some responsibility for the attacks, and Mr. Wright said U.S. pollsters will not ask the question.

But he said the poll suggests Canadians recognize that the projection of military might around the world comes with a price tag, even as many Americans struggle to understand why they were attacked.

"I think this is Canadians saying, 'You are bound to get stung when you stick your hand in the hornets' nest looking for honey,'" Mr. Wright said. "But I don't think this is evidence of people saying they deserved what they got at all."

He said there has been considerable evidence that U.S. intelligence and law-enforcement agencies did not act on a series of warnings.

He said Canadians generally support the government's efforts to tighten security at home and send troops to Afghanistan but share the government's caution on Iraq.

Sixty-one per cent of those surveyed said Ottawa has done enough to support the United States in the war on terrorism, while 24 per cent said it has not done enough; 14 per cent said it has done too much.

Eighty-three per cent of Canadians believe that the massive United-States-led bombardment of Afghanistan has failed Mr. Bush's stated aim to kill or capture al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.


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