Most Greeks want justice without war
The majority of Greeks believe that the people responsible for the terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11 should be brought to trial, that only military targets should be targeted and that Greece should not take part militarily in this US-led campaign. A poll conducted in 34 countries by Gallup International and ICAP found only 6 percent of Greeks (the lowest in Western Europe) were in favor of the United States attacking countries found to be harboring terrorists. In Western Europe, the second most wary were the Spanish and Norwegians, each with 12 percent in favor. The poll found 88 percent of Greeks polled were in favor of the terrorists being brought to trial instead, followed by the Spanish with 86 percent. The poll in Greece was conducted by ICAP among 500 people in Athens and Thessaloniki. It found most Greeks were against their country’s military involvement (60 percent), behind Finland (83 percent) and Austria (82 percent). These were the only three Western European countries in which the majority was against participation (and Austria and Finland have been neutral for decades). Twenty-nine percent were in favor of Greece’s participation, with Finns the least in favor (8 percent). Among Greeks, 82 percent said only military targets should be selected and only 1 percent (the lowest among the 34 countries) that targets could include civilians. Only the United States and Israel showed a substantial minority not opposed to civilian casualties (36 and 28 percent, respectively). Seventy-five percent of Greeks and Portuguese fear an international economic crisis and 58 percent of Greeks (the highest in Europe) believe that US foreign policy is detrimental to their country.
