06/23/05

In the absence of an antiwar movement, the American people have turned against the war in Iraq. Those two facts, I suspect, are connected. There was a very real antiwar movement early on. In the months before, during, and immediately after our invasion, hundreds of thousands of Americans took to the streets to oppose the intervention. Then chaos, followed by insurgency, enveloped Iraq, and the need for a constable to restore some order became indisputable. Those who had opposed the war ... argued that the occupation would be less of a lightning rod if conducted by an international force under U.N. aegis. ... Confronted with a choice between U.S. occupation and chaos, millions of Americans -- chiefly liberals and Democrats -- who'd been against the war decided to give occupation a chance... [editor's note: While the libertarians among us continued to remind folks of the folly in these claims? - SAT]

http://www.prospect.org/web/view-web.ww?id=9900

from The American Prospect, by Harold Meyerson


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp