Vietnam or Iraq, which was the most unpopular war in American history?

[Jack Reacheround]

That and mass media. Even stuff like Conan always made fun of France and the UN not seeing the WMD and show Saddam hiding WMD in Iraq.

Yeah, but that isn’t entirely their fault. It was a scam Dick Cheney pulled, made more credible by Colin Powell selling out and presenting false evidence to the UN.

But basically, Cheney would have one of his staff “leak” information to a national paper, like the New York Times, saying something like, “Intelligence sources say Iraq has yellow cake uranium” or whatever.
Then, when Cheney was in front of the media or UN making the case for invading Iraq, he would cite that article as proof that Iraq had WMDs.

That’s not to say it isn’t also the fault of mainstream media. They all jumped onboard. And had they exercised any kind of journalistic rigor, they would have realized how flimsy the evidence was.

Part of the mainstream media’s enthusiasm for invading Iraq was also due to the conflation of patriotism with wanting to invade Iraq. If you go back to the old War Room threads, you will see this conflation demonstrated quite a bit. Anyone who didn’t want to invade Iraq was considered unpatriotic. And that was a national phenomenon. In fact, it’s the definition of nationalism, not patriotism. But the mainstream outlets didn’t want to be accused of not being onboard with this post 9/11 nationalism. It was like a club. And it was considered the American thing to do - to be part of the post 9/11 nationalism club.

 

[armbarforhire]

The Iraq thing is funny cause now everyone acts like they were anti war, but it wasn't the case.

People where booing Eddie Vedder off stage for criticizing Bush in 2003. I mean this were rock fans you would expect to be more left leaning.

 

[Sweater of AV]

Lol.

 

[DoctorTaco]

Yeah, but that isn’t entirely their fault. It was a scam Dick Cheney pulled, made more credible by Colin Powell selling out and presenting false evidence to the UN.

The media should have done a better job of vetting information. If as a 16 year old kid I could read up on and find counter arguments for the bullshit being reported then why couldn’t professional journalists and press rooms?

 

[shunyata]

Vietnam by far... mostly because of the draft.

I'm 50/50 on the response being just as strong to the Iraq war had the draft been used. On the one hand, more people may have known the Iraq war was BS, but on the other, I think people were and are too comfortable to rise to the level of laying down in front of tanks or taking radical measures like bombing government buildings.

I was personally out on the streets with a bunch of hippy girls protesting the invasion of Iraq, and I have to say nobody was spitting on veterans.

 

[Jack Reacheround]

The media should have done a better job of vetting information. If as a 16 year old kid I could read up on and find counter arguments for the bullshit being reported then why couldn’t professional journalists and press rooms?

Yeah, it was a dereliction of journalism for sure. But also, this is when the internet was somewhat in its infancy. The people running mainstream outlets at the time were either oblivious to, or in denial about the fact that “the news” didn’t have to come from one of the major outlets that were owned by the few conglomerate corporations who owned them.
I mean, they are still fighting that battle today, trying to dismiss any news outlets not in network tv or in print as not being credible.
I’m their defense, many simply are not. But these are old school people who seem to have no idea how to research what independent outlets are credible and which ones are not. They can only dismiss any online news media as all being part of the same discredited sources as Alex Jones’s Infowars.

 

[HARRISON_3]

The War on Christmas

 

[William Munny]

Vietnam due to Draft, completely bullshit reasons (lol @ domino theory), 58K dead in Vietnam, and the odd fact that Ho Chi Minh actually really liked America, and before turning to the Soviets he asked for our help several times.

 

[Blayt7hh]

That was around the same time as the inception of the sherdog War Room.
I remember lots of people arguing that we had to go into Iraq. That they played a role in 9/11, had WMDs. That we needed to liberate them, etc.

It wasn’t just a few people. It was one half of the posters in the War Room.

Iraq war had huge support among the general population. I think it was around 75% in 2003. What’s kind of nuts is I don’t think the Bush admin ever claimed they had anything to do with 9-11. They definitely didn’t seem to mind though

 

[Blayt7hh]

Vietnam due to Draft, completely bullshit reasons (lol @ domino theory), 58K dead in Vietnam, and the odd fact that Ho Chi Minh actually really liked America, and before turning to the Soviets he asked for our help several times.

Yep. We wanted to help him too but ultimately would not go against the French. It was a huge mistake and a tragic waste of lives.

 

[Hdfi]

Both were quite popular and supported by most Americans at the time, but Vietnam was slightly less so than Iraq.

 

[Jack Reacheround]

Iraq war had huge support among the general population. I think it was around 75% in 2003. What’s kind of nuts is I don’t think the Bush admin ever claimed they had anything to do with 9-11. They definitely didn’t seem to mind though

Yeah, if I recall correctly they may have alluded to them somehow being peripherally connected, but never flat out said it.
But plenty of people in the War Room sure thought Iraq somehow had a hand in 9/11. Probably via a disinformation effort very similar to what happens on social media today. It’s just that back then, they did it through chain emails that people got, and were told to forward to friends.

Shit, there are still some people in America who think Iraq was behind 9/11.

 

[Blayt7hh]

Yeah, if I recall correctly they may have alluded to them somehow being peripherally connected, but never flat out said it.
But plenty of people in the War Room sure thought Iraq somehow had a hand in 9/11. Probably via a disinformation effort very similar to what happens on social media today. It’s just that back then, they did it through chain emails that people got, and were told to forward to friends.

Shit, there are still some people in America who think Iraq was behind 9/11.

Yeah it was honestly a ridiculous time. Al of the mainstream media was beating the war drums. I was a teenager then and I remember loving the Daily Show because they were the only ones with some kind of a platform calling the nonsense out for what it was.

The most outrageous part of the whole fiasco to me is that in the end, we removed a strong buffer against terrorism. Sadam did not let that shit happen in Iraq. We eliminated a sort of ally in our war on terror, destabilized the place and gave ISIS a place to take root. Like holy fuck.

 

[The XL]

Both were unpopular but the Vietnam war ended up with our government essentially murdering tens of thousands of Americans against their wills via the draft. At least those in Iraq willingly signed up.

 

[armbarforhire]

Yeah, if I recall correctly they may have alluded to them somehow being peripherally connected, but never flat out said it.
But plenty of people in the War Room sure thought Iraq somehow had a hand in 9/11. Probably via a disinformation effort very similar to what happens on social media today. It’s just that back then, they did it through chain emails that people got, and were told to forward to friends.

Shit, there are still some people in America who think Iraq was behind 9/11.

From what I rember the overall narrative was something like Iraq is friends with terrorist groups and another 9/11 will happen if the USA don't take preventive methods and they have WMD so it can be worse.

 

[Jack Reacheround]

From what I rember the overall narrative was something like Iraq is friends with terrorist groups and another 9/11 will happen if the USA don't take preventive methods and they have WMD so it can be worse.

Yeah, that sounds right.

 

[the ambush]

The Iraq invasion was mostly for economic reasons and profiteering.

The motive for all wars has involved economic gain and profiteering for over the past 200 years. Whether it is the United States, Japan, Germany, Italy, or Russia.

 

[Blayt7hh]

Both were unpopular but the Vietnam war ended up with our government essentially murdering tens of thousands of Americans against their wills via the draft. At least those in Iraq willingly signed up.

Yes but the American people were super into sending them to war under false pretenses. The Bush administration abused the patriotism at the time to slide into a war they wanted, not one most Americans really wanted.

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

The motive for all wars has involved economic gain and profiteering for over the past 200 years. Whether it is the United States, Japan, Germany, Italy, or Russia.

The Cheney crew around W, with their links to the oil and defense industry , the lies around WMDs made this pretty obvious looting.

 

[emefer]

C

I think both of the Iraq wars were pretty popular at their time (in the USA at least).

The first one they even had trading cards of desert storm

Second one was fueled by post 9-11 sentment and censorship or any criticism, people would rather fight France than accept Iraq didn't have WMD (freedom fries), its only retroactively that the whole Iraq invasion has been looked worse as time goes by.

During the first Iraq war I was of the unenviable position of being against the troops but for the war. Not the most popular of stances I’ve taken on an issue. I don’t choose wisely always, yet, I’m committed.