Britain is often seen as one of America's strongest allies and was a key supporter of the war in Iraq. However, British youths are much more reluctant to support U.S. military action.

In May, Y-Press talked to four Children's Express members in London about the war: Horia El Hadad, 17, Isadora Fontaine, 18, Adam Jogee, 11, and Annabel McLeod, 16.

Views on war

Annabel: I was supportive of the war because I understood the justification that if this war was actually in 10 years' time, there would be a lot more casualties because technology would've improved.

Isadora: At the beginning, I didn't think war was the best solution. But then I thought that maybe if they fought this war now, it would be over and done with quite quickly.

Adam: Well, my views have sort of changed because at the beginning, me and my friends were thinking, "We have to disarm Saddam Hussein, you know, he's a threat to the world."

But then throughout the war, we've seen these pictures of Ali, the 12-year-old boy who has no arms anymore. You're thinking, "Is there any need for this when all they have to do is try and talk?"

Horia: Before I was just totally against just going to Saddam altogether. But like during the war, I realized that Saddam has to be stopped and he has to be removed, but not with war.

Demonstrations

Isadora: I have got friends who are very affected by this war. I have a friend at school who's very into peace, and she's always going to protests and protesting. She is a peace protester in all sorts of situations, such as the war between Israel and Palestine . . .

A lot of the students at my school are very antiwar, and they are always going to protests. Our school actually held protests. I went to one protest, but I didn't really want to take part in all of them because after a while I thought they were getting a little bit pointless.

Annabel: In my school, a lot of people are more antiwar. I think that's really because it didn't really appear that young people have lots to say in this country, and the only way that they can actually influence any decisions is either just to protest or to write letters.

A lot of my friends are very antiwar. A lot of them went to the protests in like Trafalgar Square, Parliament Square, shouting about how the war was for oil and how so many people were gonna die.

Horia: At my college, all the teachers are always going into these speeches about how they oppose the war. And we also went on a march with a teacher.

Views on America

Isadora: I don't think that George Bush knows what he's doing, and I think America just wants to rule the world. I think that any country that they don't agree with, "Bang, let's go in and bomb them," they think. I think they're very xenophobic. Now they've done Iraq -- what country will they do next?

Horia: I'm Moroccan, so it's like it could be my country next. I mean, Bush has already said that he's going to go after Syria.

Annabel: I've personally found that a lot of people were, and still are, very anti-American and very anti-George Bush, 'cause they feel that he is the creator of all evils.

They feel that a lot of the American young people might just support the war like their president, 'cause we don't really see that many young people in America, or hear about it in Britain, actually protesting against the war.

I do think that American people were actually the most affected, from terrorist attacks like the twin towers, so in a sense they might have the right to be angry. But I just thought the revenge that they might've used was unnecessary.

Adam: I just don't like the way America likes to boss everyone around. And Bush didn't even wait for the U.N. to finalize it. Even if (Hussein) did have weapons of mass destruction, I don't know how like America and Britain could have weapons of mass destruction and Iraq can't.

Rebuilding Iraq

Adam: It seems the Americans -- the coalition forces -- have made it worse by going in. I know what Saddam Hussein was doing was wrong, but they sort of made it worse because now the Iraqis are so unstable.

Isadora: Although there's been a lot of casualties involved and a lot of destruction has come out of this war, I suppose in a way the outcome is a relatively free country.

I think that Britain and America should play a part to a certain extent in the rebuilding of Iraq. But the thing is, I don't think America should try and dominate Iraq because that would be wrong. I think the Iraqis should be able to do what they want to their country.

Annabel: I thin k it's now time to step away and actually restore law and order. I feel that Britain and America especially should give to the (Iraqi) poor because they've caused a lot of the destruction that's happened there.

Horia: The U.S. should have the biggest role because they're the ones who started it. The U.N. has the most responsible job, but they didn't give the go-ahead, so it shouldn't be like their responsibility. I think it was unfair; they were just, you know, stripped of their responsibilities.

REPORTERS: Rajpreet Heir, 13; Emily Mossler, 12; Abbey Stokes, 13; Riley Walker, 11.