Gallup Poll Shows Massive Support for Iraq War in 2003, Massive Disapproval in 2015
I see a lot of folks rewriting history. "Everybody hated the idea of invading Iraq back in 2003." "Anyone with a brain was against the Invasion." Etc. However, I remember 2002-3. Back in July 2002, when Sy Hersch reported that the Bush administration intended to invade Iraq, there were a total of four letters to the NYTs raising objection. Four. I wrote a letter to my own home town paper objecting. As best I could tell at the time, those five letters were it. No one else bothered to loudly object. I know. I was interested in the issue and I followed the protests (or rather the lack of protests). A few folks, like Phil Donahue who tried to object, got shot down. And no one seemed to care. There was no massive, vocal opposition before the war, just a huge media march to war. The left had some muted criticism, but it did NOT get out there front and center to object to the war. The first really BIG anti-war protest was the one in DC in the fall of 2005, after Katrina and the stolen 2004 election, when Bush' popularity was in the toilet. And no, that was not all of us finally coming to our senses. The MSM pushed Americans into that protest the same way it pushed us into the war.
For those who have forgotten the MSM's stormy relationship with Bush, here is a summary. The majority of MSM (minus Fox) split from Bush in early 2005. Several factors were involved. First, outgoing FCC chairman Michael Powell got even for his dad by revealing that Bush had never intended to honor promises made to the MSM to relax media ownership rules. It was all a big scam. The networks covered up the Ohio election exit polls for nothing. CBS crucified Dan Rather for less than nothing---they lost their star reporter and still didn't get the media ownership changes they needed to get into compliance with the law. Second, Bush attempted to declare was on Iran in early 2005. The Pentagon said "no" to war on three fronts. The Pentagon's mouthpiece, GE's MSNBC, NBC and Newsweek took up the Pentagon's cause. In early 2005, MSNBC had the first (of many) round tables about how wars for oil were a bad idea. This after NBC led the March to War in 2002-3. Finally, the Bush administration decided to pander to the right by attempting to create A La Carte cable for the purpose of getting rid of such unGodly shows as "Sponge Bob Square Pants." Disney relies upon bundled cable to keep its merchandising empire afloat. The Mouse was not amused. It pretended to go along---agreeing to produce "Path to 9-11" which was supposed to be the GOP's ace in the hole for the 2006 election. However, the creative minds behind Disney made sure that the show was an unwatchable bomb. And then, ABC outed Mark Foley in 9-2006.
The MSM's change in positions on Bush/Cheney exactly mirror the American public's opinion of Bush--and of his war of choice for oil.
How many people hated the Iraq Invasion back in 2003? According to Gallup a whopping 23%. That is the same 23% who can always be trusted to take a contrarion position. As in "Hell yes, the earth is flat!" and "Yeah, the moon is made of cream cheese!" and "I love me some Dick Cheney!" 75% of Americans polled loved the invasion in 2003.
Two years passed before the "It was a huge mistake" crowd began to consistently outnumber the "Great war!" crowd.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/1633/Iraq.aspx
How I wish that all you folks who claim to have been such vocal critics of the war back in 2002-3 had been a bit more...vocal. Maybe we would not have lost thousands of US lives, millions of Iraqi lives and trillions of US dollars. However, only a very small number of us were willing to go against the grain at the time. Easier to sit back and say nothing and not have to risk being fired (Phil Donahue) or shamed (Dixie Chicks, Bill Maher). I am sure that after seeing how Bill and the Chicks have profited from their vocal, early anti-Bush stance, many people who want to promote their own careers would love to have us believe that they were at the very forefront of the massive, anti-war movement in 2003. But dudes, if you were out there, I didn't see you. And I was watching. I was writing. I was protesting.
That isn't to say that there were not protests. Hundreds of thousands of people got out in the streets--in other countries. The world was absolutely horrified. But at home, in the US, the protests were much smaller---100s to 1000s at most. Because face it, who wants to be called "UnAmerican" when our troops are marching off to war?
So, yeah, the Iraq war was always a massively bad idea. But don't try to rewrite history and say that everyone with a brain knew it. Because if you do, that means that 75% of Americans should be on life support.
= new reply since forum marked as read
what is right?
If I disagree with 'public opinion' I want congress to do what's right. If I agree with 'public opinion' I want congress to 'listen to the people'.
It's not quite that simple but there is an element of that. 
