printFirst they love them, then they loathe them. After a while, as memory fades, the love-loathe tug-of-war is repeated, for that is the relationship Americans have to the wars prosecuted perennially by their revered politicians, pundits and special interests.
Suckers are suckered into war, again and again, implies Lawrence Wittner, Professor of History emeritus, at SUNY Albany:
… it is also true that much of the American public is very gullible and, at least initially, quite ready to rally ’round the flag. Certainly, many Americans are very nationalistic and resonate to super-patriotic appeals. …
…The responses of Americans to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars provide telling examples. In 2003, according to opinion polls, 72 percent of Americans thought going to war in Iraq was the right decision. By early 2013, support for that decision had declined to 41 percent. Similarly, in October 2001, when U.S. military action began in Afghanistan, it was backed by 90 percent of the American public. By December 2013, public approval of the Afghanistan war had dropped to only 17 percent.
In fact, this collapse of public support for once-popular wars is a long-term phenomenon. Although World War I preceded public opinion polling, observers reported considerable enthusiasm for U.S. entry into that conflict in April 1917. But, after the war, the enthusiasm melted away. In 1937, when pollsters asked Americans whether the United States should participate in another war like the World War, 95 percent of the respondents said “No.”
And so it went. When President Truman dispatched U.S. troops to Korea in June 1950, 78 percent of Americans polled expressed their approval. By February 1952, according to polls, 50 percent of Americans believed that U.S. entry into the Korean War had been a mistake. The same phenomenon occurred in connection with the Vietnam War. In August 1965, when Americans were asked if the U.S. government had made “a mistake in sending troops to fight in Vietnam,” 61 percent of them said “No.” But by August 1968, support for the war had fallen to 35 percent, and by May 1971 it had dropped to 28 percent.
“When Will They Ever Learn?” implores Wittner.
Performed by Peter, Paul and Mary, here is the song from which that neat line comes:
The relevance of this to the news item du jour ? Whether he knows it or not, Robert M. Gates, the Former Defense Secretary, is all about increasing his sphere of interest: War.