Americans Beginning to Oppose Iraq War, but For the Wrong Reason

[AlamoDemoc]

Americans Beginning to Oppose Iraq War, but For the Wrong Reason:

by Stan Moore(Sunday August 07 2005)


Americans are turning against the war, but for the wrong reason. Americans are starting to feel the pain of war based on U.S. losses and expenses, not for reasons of morality and of principle. Americans are not saying that the war was illegal and immoral and wrong. Americas are saying that the war was unnecessary and painful and hard to endure. This self-serving and insensitive response will likely not produce sympathy from many of the world's populations, who have suffered far more than Americans have or ever will.

This lack of empathy by Americans is a terrible motivator for terrorists around the world. It teaches victims of American aggression that there is value in resistance. It teaches terrorists that American tolerance of pain is limited, and that inflicting pain on Americans gets results.


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http://world.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/17519

[electron_blue]

1. I don't think we should start splintering groups who oppose the war

[smoogatz]

2. Unnecessary=immoral, obviously

What a dolt.

[Benhurst]

3. "Unnecessary and painful and hard to endure" Don't knock it.

This is about as good as you can expect from a smug, narcissistic, culturally-isolated population, living in a society based on greed, claiming to be Christian.

edited to correct :spank: typo

[Jim Sagle]

4. Stan Moore is a goddamn bozo who won't take yes for an answer.

Fuck'm.

[moodforaday]

6. Seems to have a point though

I don't recall having read any of his previous articles, so can't comment on the author. But he seems to have a point where he says this:

"This lack of empathy by Americans is a terrible motivator for terrorists around the world. It teaches victims of American aggression that there is value in resistance. It teaches terrorists that American tolerance of pain is limited, and that inflicting pain on Americans gets results."

Perhaps you can show that Bush's dwindling poll ratings should be attributed to a a growing moral disgust with the war, but I'm not seeing that. I'm seeing people concerned with the morass and the casualties. These concerns are highly justified, but only opposing failing wars is not too high a ground to stand on.

[smoogatz]

7. Um, they knew that already.

All they have to do is look at Vietnam, Lebanon, Somalia and Saudi Arabia. We cave in to insurgencies and terrorists pretty much every time--yet we never learn the lesson of those failed occupations: you can't win the hearts and minds of the people by killing them, stealing their resources and/or turning their women into whores. The only successful way to conduct a long-term counter-insurgency is to become a thoroughly ruthless colonizer, and I don't think many Americans would vote for that. Not as long as we still think of ourselves as the land of the free, blah, blah, blah.

[Peace Patriot]

5. 58% of Americans opposed the Iraq war BEFORE the invasion. I'll never

forget that stat. Feb. '03. That was before all the lies came out, and the true costs were known. About half of that 58% opposed it outright. The other half opposed any pre-emptive, unilateral invasion by Bush, and would only support war in Iraq if the world community did it by consensus (a UN peacekeeping mission).

Another interesting stat: 63% of Americans oppose torture UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. May '04. That doesn't sound like a scared, weak-minded people to me. It sounds like people who don't take any bullcrap, and stick to their sense of justice and ethics and lawfulness, despite relentless fearmongering.

In fact, if you review opinion polls over the last year, you will find that the great majority of Americans oppose every major Bush policy, foreign and domestic, way up in the 60% to 70% range. You name it. Iraq war. Torture. Social Security. The deficit. Women's rights. Overwhelming disagreement with Bush.

And that's not even to mention Bush's dismal approving ratings over the last year--so low that Zogby said he couldn't win.

Makes you wonder how he did. Hm-m-m. Bush buddies owning the election system with secret, proprietary software counting all the votes? Naw. That's paranoid. Those nice Bush donors wouldn't use their "trade secret" contracts with the states to cheat, would they?

But I digress. Anyone who is just catching up with Americans' overwhelming opposition to Bush's war really shouldn't be speculating on other Americans' sense of morality. It would be more useful to question how the majority got DISEMPOWERED and DISENFRANCHISED.