A new Pew Research poll indicates that majorities in both the general American public and military veterans are growing tired of military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Majorities of US military veterans and the public say wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were not worth fighting, according to a new @pewresearch survey https://t.co/icurFiWT7V pic.twitter.com/Bgk5eB0nW0
— Kim Parker (@kim_c_parker) July 10, 2019
Among veterans, 64 percent indicated that the war in Iraq was not worth it when factoring in the costs versus the benefits to America.
The civilian populace holds similar views. 62 percent of Americans say the Iraq War wasn’t worth it, while 32 percent say it was. In the same token, majorities of veterans (58 percent) and the public (59 percent) don’t support the Afghan war. Nearly 40 percent say it was worth fighting.
This poll also found that veterans who served in either Iraq or Afghanistan are no more supportive of these military adventures that veterans who did not serve in those wars. These views did not see any differences between members based on rank or combat experience.
The only differences in views on war were seen across party lines. Republican and Republican-leaning veterans are much more likely to approve of the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns than their Democratic counterparts.
Gallup broke down this partisan division:
45% of Republican veterans vs. 15% of Democratic veterans say the war in Iraq was worth fighting, while 46% of Republican veterans and 26% of Democratic veterans say the same about Afghanistan. The party gaps are nearly identical among the public.
In a similar vein, views on the Syrian military campaign have been quite negative. 42 percent of veterans say the campaign in Syria has been worth it, while 55 percent think it has not. The general public holds similar beliefs: 36 percent say American efforts in Syria have been worth it, while 58 percent say that the campaign is a lost cause.
For veterans, these views consistently cut across era of service, rank, and overall combat experience. Republican veterans (54 percent) are more likely than Democrats (25 percent) to approve of the Syrian campaign.
This shows that the American people are tired of the “forever wars” that the U.S. has been involved in during the last two decades.
Senators like Rand Paul have led the charge in pushing President Donald Trump to follow through with his America First agenda by putting forward legislation to withdraw from Afghanistan.
After nearly 20 years of military conflicts, the American people have grown tired of these never-ending military adventures. Nevertheless, the defense industry and its representatives in Congress have other plans as witnessed with one of their efforts to block Trump’s withdrawal from conflict zones in Syria and Afghanistan.
Nevertheless, the American people are getting restless and eventually President Trump will have to deliver on his initial promise to withdraw troops from these conflicts.
