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capn, I agree the war was controversial in both the US and the UK, with more people in the UK in opposition. But I also think the UK is fairly democratic, and that there was a more vigorous discussion of the war's potential downside in the British media than in the US. But at the end of the day, parlaiment could have passed a no-confidence vote in Blair and there would have been a new PM who could have gone in a different direction. Just like Congress could have withheld funding for the war in the US. Democracy works, and polls don't always measure intensity of feeling by the way - I think a lot of people had the studious position the war was folly but didn't really vehemenetly opposse it the war people in favor of the war ardently favored it. If the politicians had misjudged sentiment about the war, Blair would have been gone a lot sooner.