Americans are Divided About the War

When the Iraq War began on March 20, 2003 there was a strange mood on the American home front. Americans did not enter this war with flag-waving patriotism, but they also did not harbor many scruples or doubts. The hesitant march into this conflict was based on a reckless trust in the nation’s political leadership, but the confidence in military superiority was tempered with many vague fears.

The deep ambivalence and uncertainty is still felt today, even though in the interim there have been fierce debates on whether it was the right decision to go to war and also on the best way to end the war. Still, after five years the war has a solid place in American society. It’s accepted, the way one would accept a difficult member of the family who constantly upsetting. The war is ignored like an unpleasant chronic disease that one doesn’t think about if it can be avoided.

America at the beginning of the sixth year of war. A country that hasn’t come to terms with itself and with this war; a nation that is open both to exhortations to “stay the course” and calls for peace, but that then becomes lethargic and forgets about the war for a time.

What happened to the peace movement? Are there any war opponents left? Doesn’t anyone care about the questionable reasons that were used to start the war? You can start the most vicious debates by asking these questions in any roundtable discussion in America. Many refuse to acknowledge it, but arguing about the rationale for the war is basically only a debate about the past. It has nothing to do with the situation in Iraq.

And that is also part of America’s ambivalence. Polls indicate that two thirds of Americans consistently believe the war was a mistake. But when asked about the future of the mission the poll numbers are much closer and waiver back and forth.

There are good reasons why Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama are not basing their campaigns on the slogan “Bring our troops home!”, as had been envisioned by Democratic party strategists a year ago. Yes, the opposition denounces the war and promises to end it. But the plans for withdrawing troops are turning out to be more cautious as time goes by. And only 21% of Americans cite the Iraq Ware as the most important campaign issue.

The housing crisis, the falling stock market, the presidential campaign – for long periods of time these seem to be much more important that the distant war to which everyone has grown accustomed. Only occasionally does one take note of the casualty statistics, like glancing at an electricity meter. It’s appalling, but then one turns away , the meter keeps on ticking unnoticed.