A majority of Norwegians want to bring troops home from Iraq: poll: "The poll, conducted by Visendi for NTB, showed that 51.2 percent of the population wants the government to repatriate the Norwegian soldiers, who are stationed in southeastern Iraq under British command.
Only 32.7 percent of Norwegians said they wanted the troops to stay.
Women were especially opposed to maintaining a Norwegian presence in the war-torn country.
While 60 percent of all women polled said they would prefer that the troops leave, 44.9 percent of men said they were in favor of their removal, while 45.2 percent of men said they thought the troops should stay, according to NTB.
Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik, said on Wednesday that he wished that more of the the population agreed with his support for keeping troops in Iraq.
'It is problematic when only three out of ten people support the Norwegian troops' presence in Iraq, but we can't let opinion polls determine what Norway's policy should be in such important foreign policy questions,' he said.
'Norway isn't in Iraq as a part of the occupation forces, but as a part of the stabilizing forces. That's an important difference. We are there to stabilize the situation and to help the Iraqi people with important humanitarian contributions and to help rebuild infrastructure,' Bondevik added.
The Norwegian parliament is set to determine within the next couple of months whether or not the Norwegian troops should stay in Iraq."
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