Get News & Views Updates
Most Popular This Week
- Senate Votes to Extend Sweeping Bush Era Surveillance Powers
- Six Weeks After Reelection, Obama Sells Out Liberal Democrats
- The Only Way Left to Beat GOP Fanatics: Call Their Bluff and Go Over the Fabricated "Cliff"
- The Financial Elite's War Against the US Economy
- New Year’s Revolution: Connecting the Dots, Coming Together and Fighting Like Hell
- Six Weeks After Reelection, Obama Sells Out Liberal Democrats
- The Financial Elite's War Against the US Economy
- Revealed: How the FBI Coordinated the Crackdown on Occupy
- Senate Votes to Extend Sweeping Bush Era Surveillance Powers
- New Year’s Revolution: Connecting the Dots, Coming Together and Fighting Like Hell
Popular content
Today's Top News
Afghan War Not Worth It, say Most Americans
US public support for the war in Afghanistan has reached a record low, overshadowing a major review that has revealed modest progress in the conflict.
Sixty per cent of Americans now say the war has not been ''worth fighting'', with 43 per cent ''strongly'' of that opinion.
The opposition has grown in recent months, despite a big fall in the number of US and allied casualties from mid-year peaks recorded at the height of the US troop surge.
While the increasingly negative assessment spells political danger for President Barack Obama, most have welcomed his pledge to start withdrawing troops by the middle of next year, a plan that the review concluded remained on track.
However, the assessment cited Afghanistan governance and the ability of Taliban fighters to retreat to ''safe havens'' within neighbouring Pakistan as continuing challenges.
''The gains we've made are still fragile and reversible,'' President Obama said.
''I can report that, thanks to the extraordinary service of our troops and civilians on the ground, we are on track to achieve our goals.''
The publication of the review coincided with anti-war protests held across the US, including one in Washington in which people chained themselves to the White House fence, leading to about 100 arrests.
Among those detained was Daniel Ellsberg, 79, the anti-war campaigner best-known for leaking the Pentagon Papers during the Vietnam War in 1971, and who earlier on Thursday defended both the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, and the army intelligence officer accused of passing more than 250,000 sensitive diplomatic cables to the website.
''I think they provided a very valuable service,'' Mr Ellsberg said, noting that the documents had revealed the extent that US special forces were involved in military operations in tribal areas of Pakistan.
''To call them terrorists is not only mistaken, it's absurd,'' he added, referring to Mr Assange and Private Bradley Manning, 23, who is being held in detention at a marine training base in Virginia.
Declining American support for the conflict has been reflected in several recent surveys, but this week's ABC/Washington Post poll showed a fall of 14 percentage points since July.
Only 34 per cent of respondents said they now supported the conflict, the longest-running war in US history.
The lack of support mirrors that for the Iraq war, with the proportion of Americans claiming the war was not worthwhile peaking at 66 per cent in April, 2007.
Asked whether the administration could justify its Afghanistan strategy, the Defence Secretary, Robert Gates, acknowledged the campaign's universal unpopularity. ''I think if you look at polling in almost all of our 49 coalition partners' countries, public opinion is in doubt,'' he told a news conference.
''Public opinion would be … in terms of majority, against their participation [in the war].
''I would just say that it's obviously the responsibility of leaders to pay attention to public opinion, but at the end of the day their responsibility is to look out for the public interest and to look to the long term.''
Comments
Note: Disqus 2012 is best viewed on an up to date browser. Click here for information. Instructions for how to sign up to comment can be viewed here. Our Comment Policy can be viewed here. Please follow the guidelines. Note to Readers: Spam Filter May Capture Legitimate Comments...
53 Comments so far
Show All"Afghan War Not Worth It, say Most Americans"
Oh well, in that case, maybe it should be discontinued. I don't think the Afghans themselves would object, not that their opinions about an "Afghan War" matter in the least, of course. It's strictly a question of whether it's "worth it" for Americans.
MY GAWD! Do "most Americans" ever, even for a brief moment, consider how utterly arrogant their "exceptionalism" and hubris appear to the other 95% of humanity? If they do, they obviously just don't care.
"Afghan War Not Worth It, say Most Americans". Like that matters any more? In 2012 the american sheeple will be given the choice between 2 pro war candidates, and they will dutifully pick one of them. The wars will continue.
I fear you're correct.
My "favorite" part of living in America is the ubiquitous use of polls so as to have us believe anyone in power really cares about what us commoners think.
Seriously, we know our elected representatives blatantly ignore the will of the people in the U.S so I ask the MSM, what IS the point of your polls?
To make it feel like SOMEONE is paying attention to us?
To have us believe that once our leaders see the poll results, change is right around the corner?
90% of Americans are comforted by polls showing someone cares about their opinion.
Isn't that cute?
Quite cute, polycarpe.
But Gates says "I would just say that it's obviously the responsibility of leaders to pay attention to public opinion, but at the end of the day their responsibility is to look out for the public interest and to look to the long term."
So you see, they're looking out for the public interest because the public doesn't have a clue.
Which they don't, of course. If you ask most USians what the "it" refers to in "not worth it," they won't have a cogent answer except what "they" did to us. You know, on 911.
When the populace is so blatantly stupid, it's hard to feel you should take their opinion into consideration. Never mind that the blather that the media has reported from their official sources has made them so stupid.
I glad that Mr. Gates feels it's his "...responsibility is to look out for the public interest..." I feel safer already knowing that this shill for the Military Industrial Komplex (MIK) is making sure that we ignorant masses are well taken care of.
I wonder how much money the MIK has placed in one of those off-shore numbered bank accounts for his retirement.
Gawd bless AmeriKKKa!
So let's review:
A) The American people don't understand the difference between their public opinions and their public interests.
Nice one, Mr. Gates. Smooth.
B) The American people are too stupid to be trusted to make decisions anyways.
Well, that sure leaves a lot of wiggle room for a functioning democratic state, huh?
Bingo. Obama should be made to publicly toss his Peace Prize into a bonfire.
I agree.
Afghans;
Rise!
Not worth it? Time for another "terrorist attack on the homeland" to frighten the rabble into line.
Oh, come on now. Victory is just around the corner. We can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Just a few more years is all we need. Just a few more borrowed trillions of dollars will do it. Just a few hundred thousand more ripped and maimed and murdered brown people and Afghanistan will be free. Have faith in your leaders because they know best.
Screw the "americans" and their opinions. It has finally become apparent to them that these occupations are hurting them in their pocketbooks, hence their dissatisfaction. It isn't the death, destruction, misery and sorrow that swayed their opinions. Had the u.s. military "killed them all" they would singing praises and gearing up for the next travesty by buying larger televisions and larger cars with ribbon stickers to go to the next "action" movie.
The "americans" showed their true colors on Sept. 12, 2001.
Only 5 posts and already I see the cynical tone of reaction. It is true that public opinion is fickle and easily manipulated but it is also true that it is the elites in America, in the government, in academia, in business and certainly in media that beat the war drum. They always say that they are doing it for our own good, we don't recognize the threat etc. They do. Because you see, they know how the world should be run--obviously it should be run by them-- and those who oppose their will are a danger. Could it be any clearer than that? That's why we have armies isn't it? Just don't swallow the crap that they are fighting wars to protect us. They want endless war to pursue their own agendas and we are just the fodder, the means to their ends.
How nice that we elect them and legitimize their corruption!
If 60 percent of our nation is essentially tired of this war can you imagine what that percentage is among the Afghan people? My bet: close to 100 percent and that is the fundamental reason why this occupation by NATO (read USA)is bound to fail. When the very young Soviet Union tried to overrun Poland after having been attacked by the Poles its commander-in-chief Trotsky warned that one cannot "liberate" a country militarily when its citizens reject your ideological reasons for trying. That was almost 100 years ago and our commanders-in-chief Bush and Obama ignored this fundamental truth. They have also ignored the warning of the Prussian General Von Clausewitz that armies do not like to be used for the military adventures of the state's rulers.
Commentators have focused on the date of July 2011 when "a new regime in Afghanistan begins" according to President Obama. The much greater military and political problem of 2011 is how Mr. Obama will deal with the demands of SOFA-Iraq. The agreement stipulates that all (yes all)US military personnel must have left Iraq on December 31, 2011 midnight. After January 1, 2011 it has become essentially impossible to change SOFA-Iraq even if our government and Iraq's government want a change now allowed by the agreement such as "please US will you stay a little longer?" Be assured that brains in the Pentagon and the White House are already cooking up ruses to circumvent SOFA-Iraq and be assured that they will make absolutely sure that we the people will not be informed of these ruses via leaks of any kind. Unfortunately Wikileaks will have caused that.
So what if 60 percent of AmeriKKKans think the endless wars are not worth fighting? It doesn't matter what We the People think. It only matters what the Military Industrial Komplex (MIK) and the rest of the ruling elite thinks. The whore politicians take their orders from the tiny plutocracy that pulls their strings and We the People aren't in that club.
Gawd bless AmeriKKKa!
.... at the end of the day their responsibility is to look out for the public interest and to look to the long term.
Look out for the public interest???? WaaaaaT ? WHEN in the last 10 years has this phenomanon occurred. Welcome to the new world order.
so?
There seems to be an enormous disconnect with this article. If 60 percent of Americans believe that the Afghan war [or more properly termed, an occupation] is not worth fighting, then where are the multitude of Americans who have taken to the streets protesting what Obama is doing? It has been reported by Democracy Now! that 130 people, I believe, were arrested along with Daniel Ellsberg in Washington, D.C. yesterday. That number should have been at least 1000 people who were willing to go to jail in protest against Obama's actions.
There were about a million people who protested Bush on the eve of the Iraq War. Are these 60 percent of Americans willing to give Obama a pass because he is a Democrat an/or because he is half black? Or is it because Americans cannot become that concerned because, unlike the Vietnam War, there now is no military draft and therefore no need to to worry about one's son or daughter being placed in harm's way. Never mind the fact that many Afghan children and grandmothers are being slaughtered by 500 lb. American bombs. Americans rarely become too worked up about the plight of the Other.
"Americans rarely become too worked up about the plight of the Other."
We do not even get worked up about the plight of ourselves. There is a connection.
Joe
Last I looked, there were about 5500 US casualties of these occupations. For a decade-long engagement, that's not much. The poor aren't going to squabble: the military is their best hope for their sons and daughters, whose friends in the military have reported back that they spend most of their time hanging around the base playing video games--no doubt the really violent ones--while making 1,000 a week, which they send back to their grateful family. Doubly grateful because they're out of work.
Caring about the Other? Soldiers report back to their friends about children with IEDs. Said friends can only think, what kind of monsters are these people? They deserve to be bombed back to the stone age!
I don’t mean to disparage the poor generally, because some of every income level see past this garbage. But many more don’t, and you have to admit, sending their children off to war is a good thing for many of the poor. True, there are those who come home crazed or shattered or dead, but the chances are low enough that it beats squirrel for dinner. And so many of their kids come home well disciplined!
A sad commentary on being poor in 21st century America.
And I wonder what kind of 'monsters' Americans could become were a technically superior foreign culture to occupy our fair land while killing innocent citizens and dismissing the act as 'unfortunate collateral damage'?
I hope you're being sarcastic?
"I hope you're being sarcastic?"
I hope you are being intellectually honest with yourself.
The uninformed and adolecent views of America from the cold war period never cease to amaze me.
And the number against it will only increase.
Until we can force the Ruling Class to stop these wars and cut the bloated Permanent War Budget, polls are useless.
Only a General Strike will get their arrogant attention.
''The gains we've made are still fragile and reversible,'' President Obama said.
Gains? The place was at least half civilized before you arrived. Now its hell, after a decade, and you call that "gains". Since you are willing to directly lie to us, exactly how are you better than GWB?
It begs the question.
What would make this war "worth it" to those same people polled.? War is not a thing of "value" that one buys off some store shelf.
War is NEVER "worth it".
Gw
Well said. David Swanson does a superb job in elongating that argument into book form with his most well written book War Is a Lie.
I beg to differ. War is definitely worth it to: The defense contractors; the international banking cartels; greedy industrialists; crooked politicians; and many others. When Madeline Albright was asked about the 500,000 civilian deaths in Iraq her response was: " IT WAS WORTH IT "!
Afghan war not worth it, say most Americans??
Not to them, of course. But it's worth a LOT, in billions, to a few Americans. So it's going to continue.
EXACTLY what I was going to post. Right on. And they are going to continue using the children of those who will not benefit to do the killing and the dying.
I wonder how many of the 34% that this latest poll says still support this evil and illegal war in Afghanistan, are Foxx News watchers? Goebbels would love to work for Foxx News if he were alive today and you have know they would hire him in a heartbeat!
In other words, "we" are in "this fight" until the USA is utterly destroyed.
"Well, I certainly hope not."
Hope and five bucks will get you a coffee, donut, and a few coins back. It is not at all about your hopes for the USA, and it is certainly not about your delusions that you expose here.
Just follow the story as it unfolds, from whatever your currently comfortable vantage point is. The US military / economic empire (which apparently you cannot even see or understand) has taken the path to its own cataclysmic demise. Empires fall, my friend, despite the grand and ridiculous self-justifying stories they tell their subjects.
http://www.patriotsquestion911.com/Counterterrorism_Veterans.html
Do these people look and sound like fools?
Because, as we all know, New York, Paris, London, Moscow, the powers that have seats in these cities are historical VICTIMS not aggressors, not colonizers and mass-murderers and terrorizers, and so it makes NO SENSE to assume they are in any way manipulating the "war on terror" for any other purpose than liberty and justice for all.
Thanks for your brilliance.
Please tell me you're joking????
You can't be that stupid...........
What does it matter if the 'war' in Afghanistan ends? There will only be another one in Pakistan, Yemen, Indonesia, etc. to take it's place. Social programs will be cut or ended to continue the insane 'war on terror'. Only the economic descent of the American Empire can end the insanity.
As all the caring posters above clearly posit, "we" have slipped into a very dark place.
It is no accident this hard look at the state of things here has to come from an Australian reporting writing for an Australian newspaper.
Further imagine what the reaction of our power elite rulers has come to be as this picture of an out-of-control, delusional warror state day after day hardens into overwhelmingly negative world opinion about the direction of our country.
Does it deter our war makers or reflexibly cause them to dig their heels in even deeper.
As for the "inaction" of the 60% against the war not doing enough, it takes remarkable courage to be a Berrigan!
Of course our own opinions must be reported to us by a foreign press. Mainstream American papers will say that we're all behind the *war on TeRoR." Don't you know what you *really* think?
I think this is one of the reasons we don't see so many Americans out in the streets as in France, for example.
We think such an act puts us in the crazed minority; the establishment papers wants everyone to believe that what is not in their best interests really is.
Whereas, in another country or time, it is standing up and together for your own interests, and unapologetically.
Originally, the USA invaded to fight Al Qaeda...but found they had already left.
So the enemy "morphed" into the Taliban..who used to be called the "Mujahadeen Freedom Fighters" when they did the dirty work for the USA against the Russians, but were a bit pissed for being abandoned and double crossed by the USA.
Sort of like tying up some loose ends from the 70's.
the only winners of the confict are the usual suspects..the
US Arms Manufacturers.
I read somewhere there was a country of, by and for the people.
Does anyone remember anything about this, or was it just a dream.
Wouldn't it be wonderful to live in such a place.