2008 Woodie Awards
'Iraq Syndrome' Settles in As War Saps American Will
Daniel Sneider
Issue date: 10/24/05 Section: Opinion
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I make it a point every morning to read the latest names of the American soldiers who died in Iraq. I do this to remind myself of the real cost to this nation of the war in Iraq. I think of the husbands, wives, parents, children, and friends left behind to comprehend their loss.
The constitutional referendum in Iraq this past weekend is yet another moment to step back and ask whether the war has been worth this price. The other costs of this war are no less real: the tax dollars spent and the massive public debt that is building; the erosion of American prestige around the world; and the visible weakening of American will and power to tackle more serious threats elsewhere.
But most of all, it is the mounting American casualties, now closing in on 2,000 dead and 15,000 wounded, that is wearing away support for the war. This follows a pattern of the two previous times since 1945 that Americans have suffered significant casualties in war: Korea and Vietnam.
"The only thing remarkable about the current war in Iraq is how precipitously American public support has dropped off,'' argues Ohio State political scientist John Mueller, in an important new article in Foreign Affairs.
"Casualty for casualty, support has declined far more quickly than it did during either the Korean War or the Vietnam War. And if history is any indication, there is little the Bush administration can do to reverse this decline," concludes Mueller, an expert on war and public opinion.
The Bush administration inner circle believed that conquering Iraq would be thedeath, finally, of the Vietnam Syndrome, the fear of foreign entanglement that crippled the use of American power. It is darkly ironic then that the war has given birth to what Mueller calls "the Iraq Syndrome."
Potential support for a fresh front, whether it is in Iran, Syria or North Korea, is disappearing rapidly.
"In part because of the military and financial overextension in Iraq (and Afghanistan), the likelihood of any coherent application of military power or even of a focused military threat against the remaining entities on the Bush administration's once-extensive hit list has substantially diminished,'' writes Mueller.
The constitutional referendum in Iraq this past weekend is yet another moment to step back and ask whether the war has been worth this price. The other costs of this war are no less real: the tax dollars spent and the massive public debt that is building; the erosion of American prestige around the world; and the visible weakening of American will and power to tackle more serious threats elsewhere.
But most of all, it is the mounting American casualties, now closing in on 2,000 dead and 15,000 wounded, that is wearing away support for the war. This follows a pattern of the two previous times since 1945 that Americans have suffered significant casualties in war: Korea and Vietnam.
"The only thing remarkable about the current war in Iraq is how precipitously American public support has dropped off,'' argues Ohio State political scientist John Mueller, in an important new article in Foreign Affairs.
"Casualty for casualty, support has declined far more quickly than it did during either the Korean War or the Vietnam War. And if history is any indication, there is little the Bush administration can do to reverse this decline," concludes Mueller, an expert on war and public opinion.
The Bush administration inner circle believed that conquering Iraq would be thedeath, finally, of the Vietnam Syndrome, the fear of foreign entanglement that crippled the use of American power. It is darkly ironic then that the war has given birth to what Mueller calls "the Iraq Syndrome."
Potential support for a fresh front, whether it is in Iran, Syria or North Korea, is disappearing rapidly.
"In part because of the military and financial overextension in Iraq (and Afghanistan), the likelihood of any coherent application of military power or even of a focused military threat against the remaining entities on the Bush administration's once-extensive hit list has substantially diminished,'' writes Mueller.