The American Public and Iraq

[Coventina]

I'm coming to the realization that only a tiny minority in this country TRULY cares about what is going on in Iraq.

It's probably limited to two groups: military families and the anti-war left.

The rest are content to slap the dumb yellow ribbons on their cars, shake their heads at the news coverage, and continue on with their lives. They might be liberal OR conservative, it doesn't matter. Their opinion of Bushco isn't affected one way or the other. If they supported him they still do. If they didn't, the war doesn't make them dislike him any more than they already did.

If we were to pull out our troops tomorrow, they would be glad. And then forget about Iraq entirely. It wouldn't matter to them if there was another dictator installed, or if Iran invaded them, or if mass starvation ensued. It simply would not matter to them.
They would blame the Iraqis.

They would say, "We tried to help them." Shrug their shoulders, and move on.

They would not care that Bush killed nearly 1500 American soldiers and maimed tens of thousands more. It would not matter that over 100,000 Iraqis were dead. They wouldn't even consider the contempt that America would be held in around the world.

They simply wouldn't care.

And that fills me with despair.

[49jim]

1. I agree 100% eom

[Karenina]

16. Americans need to SEE

in technicolor panavision EXACTLY what their tax dollars are paying for.
Start here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1147073

(Pssstttt... they're LYING through their teeth about the numbers ON ALL ACCOUNTS.)

[LiberalEsto]

2. The issue needs reframing

I'm reading Lakoff's book "Don't Think of an Elephant," which I highly recommend to everyone.


We need to reframe the war as a "poor investment of your tax dollars,"

"a pointless, poorly managed waste of lives and resources"

"an embarassment to our great democracy"

or something like that.

[Dhalgren]

4. It is pitiful, but you are probably right...

[Coventina]

7. Yeah..."just plain evil & wrong" is no longer a valid criticism

*sigh*

The United States is morally bankrupt.

Sadly, Pat Robertson et. al. are just mistaken as to what that means.

[Francine Frensky]

12. I like your first comment. I was at a wedding last weekend

and someone at the table, a lady who I did not know, started talking about the war, about how it was too bad for the poor older soldiers who are sent over there. I can't remember how she brought it up, but everyone at the table was probably republican, but even they can see that in terms of lives lost, or lives interrupted, or dollars lost, this was a bad move.

But your comment would have been an easy one to make.

[tx_dem41]

3. Good post!

And that explains what happened on 11/02 (and please, I know about the charges of fraud too..this thread's not about that).

[hang a left]

5. It is so far removed from the population that it does not impact their

daily lives. Therefore not a lot of thought goes into Iraq, WMD or no WMD. Unless of course you are one of the two groups that you mentioned. Once this war is brought home to them through the drafting of young men in their families and inner circles, they will start paying attention.

[Dhalgren]

6. I hate to say it, but that is why we must have a draft.

I know how this goes against the grain with almost everyone here, but if the mass of American sleepers are not forced to pay attention, then they never will. If every other kid in the neighborhood is being shipped off to the Iraqi killing fields then the public will start to be aware that "something" is going on. I have two draft-age kids and the absolute last thing in the world I want is to have either one drafted, but if the pain is not shared it will not be acknowledged. O.k, tear me up...

[Karenina]

8. No, I don't tear you up.

Were you around a year or so ago when a poster here wrote a "Bringumon" screed, declaring that nothing short of massive casualties would roust Americans out of their stupor? She was "quoted" in MSM as an example of the EVIL LEFT WING and banned.

She was also OBVIOUSLY correct. :cry:

[Arianrhod]

14. I remember her!

She was a longtime poster, and she wrote that message late at night while in emotional turmoil.

She should never have been banned, IMO.

[Arianrhod]

13. No flaming here, but my only real reluctance for a draft

is that I don't want my daughter being called up. I'm a vet. I had two sons go to Baghdad already, and I don't want anything more to do with it. Our family has given enough.

I recognize, however, that a draft is the only way to get through to people on this issue. As with everything else, a Republican cares only when it affects him or her. So I say, let it affect them.

[leftchick]

9. american's believe the BS their tvs tell them....

"freedom isn't free" you know... :puke:

[Ripley]

10. Depresses me too. Americans are so insulated.

Most don't have any knowledge about world issues and many don't even know what goes on outside their own county. Ignorant schmucks who use the "I'm too busy to read" excuse to being uninformed or more accurately, misinformed.

Intellectual laziness is an American virtue I guess.

[franksumatra]

11. yellow ribbons and bumper stickers

are about the 'least' you can do to support the troops. you're right, 90% of the nation is deliberately tuned out.

[LynnTheDem]

15. Like back at The Forgotten War?

Afgahni... Something or other....