Is the war in Iraq the most criticised and/or debated war in American history?

Question

Seriously, I mean there isn't one day when people aren't being killed there and it's been on the news every single day since it started.

I know the Vietnam War was very similar, but the War in Iraq is the 1st war started in the Information Age, where nearly every American citizen can know almost as much about the war as the soldiers fighting in it.

Furthermore, this may be the most politically divided our country has been in its history (except maybe before and during the Civil War), so I'm wondering if this war has divided our country more than any other U.S. war (again besides the Civil War).

Wow, a lot more objective answers than I expected, instead of the usual finger-pointing and name calling in this section, good job thinking about our great country than your own political party, answerers!

Answer 1

NO, read on and learn your history:

Subject: Put things in perspective


The following appeared in the Durham , NC local paper as a letter to the editor. Please forward to all on
your list as this will put things in perspective:

Liberals claim President Bush shouldn't have started this war. They complain
about his management of it. One liberal recently claimed Bush was the worst
president in U.S. history. Let's clear up one point:

We didn't start the war on terror. Try to remember, it was started by terrorists on 9/11.
Let's look at the "worst" president and mismanagement claims. FDR led us into World War II.
Germany never attacked us: Japan did. From 1941-1945, 450,000 lives were lost, an average
of 112,500 per year. Truman finished that war and started one in Korea , North Korea never
attacked us. From 1950-1953, 55,000 lives were lost, an average of 18,333 per year.
John F. Kennedy started the Vietnam conflict in 1962. Vietnam never attacked us.
Johnson turned Vietnam into a quagmire. From 1965-1975, 58,000 lives were lost, an average
of 5,800 per year. Clinton went to war in Bosnia without UN or French consent, Bosnia never
attacked us. He was offered Osama bin Laden's head on a platter three times by Sudan and did
nothing. Osama has attacked us on multiple occasions.

In the two years since terrorists attacked us, President Bush has liberated two countries, crushed
the Taliban, crippled al-Qaida, put nuclear inspectors in Libya without firing a
shot, and captured a terrorist who slaughtered 300,000 of his own people. We lost 600 soldiers,
an average of 200 a year. Bush did all this abroad while not allowing another terrorist attack at home.
Worst president in history? hummmmmm



TELL IT LIKE IT IS, NO HOLDS BARRED
This is the best summary of the reasons for the existing terrorist threats that I have read to date. Please forward to all.
Thanks, Jerry

Jimmy Carter, you’re the father of the Islamic Nazi movement. You threw the Shah under the bus, welcomed the Ayatollah home and then lacked the spine to confront the terrorists when they took our embassy and our people hostage. You’re the runner-in-chief.

Bill Clinton, you played ring around the Lewinsky while the terrorists were at war with us. You got us into a fight with them in Somalia , and then you ran from it. Your weak-willed responses emboldened the killers. Each time you failed to respond adequately they grew bolder, until 9/11.

John Kerry, dishonesty is your most prominent attribute. You lied about American Soldiers in Vietnam . Your military service, like your life, is more fiction than fact. You’ve accused our Soldiers of terrorizing women and children in Iraq . You called Iraq the wrong war, wrong place, wrong time, the same words you used to describe Vietnam . You’re a fake. You want to run from Iraq and abandon the Iraqis to murderers just as you did the Vietnamese. Iraq , like Vietnam is another war that you were for, before you were against it.

John Murtha, you said our military was broken. You said we can’t win militarily in Iraq . You accused United States Marines of cold-blooded murder without proof. And said we should redeploy to Okinawa . Okinawa John? And the Democrats call you their military expert. Are you sure you didn’t suffer a traumatic brain injury while you were off building your war hero resume? You’re a sad, pitiable, corrupt and washed up politician. You’re not a Marine sir. You wouldn’t amount to a pimple on a real Marines butt. You’re a phony nd a disgrace. Run away John.

Dick Durbin, you accused our Soldiers at Guantanamo of being Nazis, tenders of Soviet style gulags and as bad as the regime of Pol Pot who murdered two million of his own people after your party abandoned South East Asia to the Communists. Now you want to abandon the Iraqis to the same fate. History was not a good teacher for you, was it? See Dick run.

Ted Kennedy, for days on end you held poster-sized pictures from Abu Grhaib in front of any available television camera. Al Jazeera quoted you saying that Iraq ’s torture chambers were open under new management. Did you see the news this week Teddy? The Islamic Nazis demonstrated real torture for you again. If you truly supported our troops, you’d show the world poster-sized pictures of that atrocity and demand the annihilation of the perpetrators of it. Your legislation stripping support from the South Vietnamese led to a communist victory there. You’re a bloated fool bent on repeating the same historical blunder that turned freedom-seeking people over to homicidal, genocidal maniacs. To paraphrase John Murtha, all while sitting on your wide, gin-soaked rear-end in Washington .

Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Carl Levine, Barbara Boxer, Diane Feinstein, Russ Feingold, Hillary Clinton, Pat Leahy, Chuck Schumer et al ad nauseam. Every time you stand in front of television cameras and broadcast to the Islamic Nazis that we went to war because our President lied, that the war is wrong and our Soldiers are torturers, and that we should leave Iraq, you give the Islamic butchers - the same ones that tortured and mutilated American Soldiers - cause to think that we’ll run away again and all they have to do is hang on a little longer.

American news media, the New York Times particularly. Each time you publish stories about national defense secrets and our intelligence gathering methods, you become one with the sub-human pieces of camel dung that torture and mutilate the bodies of American Soldiers.. You can’t strike up the courage to publish cartoons, but you can help Al Qaeda destroy my country. Actually, you are more dangerous to us than Al Qaeda is. Think about that each time you face Mecca to admire your Pulitzer. You are America ’s axis of idiots. Your Collective Stupidity will destroy us. Self-serving politics and terrorist abetting news scoops are more important to you than our national security or the lives of innocent civilians and Soldiers. It bothers you that defending ourselves gets in the way of your elitist sport of politics and your ignorant editorializing. There is as much blood on your hands as is on the hands of murdering terrorists. Don’t ever doubt that. Your frolics will only serve to extend this war as they extended Vietnam . If you want our Soldiers home, as you claim, knock off the crap and try supporting your country ahead of supporting your silly political aims and aiding our enemies. Yes, I’m questioning your patriotism. Your loyalty ends with self. I’m also questioning why you’re stealing air that decent Americans could be breathing. You don’t deserve the protection of our men and women in uniform. You need to run away from this war and this country. Leave the war to the people who have the will to see it through and the country to people who are willing to defend it.

Commander in Chief: Mr. President you don’t get off the hook either. Our country has two enemies.. Those who want to destroy us from the outside and those who attempt it from within. Your Soldiers are dealing with the outside force. It’s your obligation to support them by confronting the axis of idiots. America must hear it from you that these people are harming our country, abetting the enemy and endangering our safety. Well up a little anger please, and channel it toward the appropriate target. You must prosecute those who leak national security secrets to the media. You must prosecute those in the media who knowingly publish those secrets. Our Soldiers need you to confront the enemy that they cannot. They need you to do it now.

Copyright
Command Sgt. Major (Retired) J.D. Pendry 2006


“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.”

Answer 2

Not nearly, the Civil War and the Vietnam war were far more criticized and the country was far more divided. There are a small minority of libtards who want to make more out the Iraq war than it really is and make it into a divisive issue but years from now I doubt it will be part of the history books.

Also, the media doesn't want to admit it but the reports from Iraq are actually not showing nearly the whole situation in Iraq. Any soldier coming back, like a marine friend of mine who just returned, will tell you that the news reports center around Baghdad because that is where almost all of the journalists are located. Meanwhile the infrastruture is imporving in other areas where the violence isn't so bad.

Answer 3

Bush divided the country by starting the war in Iraq that never needed to be started. Vietnam war was worse because of the protesting, the draft, & the higher causilties which included 3 college students from Kent state. The "civil war" going on in the US now isn't over the Iraq war/war on terror it's still about the 60s which was the last time liberals & conservatives had such a major clash. Liberals won that one & conservatives do NOT want to lose again which means they'll support the Iraq war til the bitter end because if they don't they will have lost to the liberals once again & that drives them crazy.

Answer 4

I do not think it is the most in history. In Vietnam we actually had young adults demonstrating and protesting. The Civil Rights movement was sparked by the youth and standing up for injustices. Now, we (ages 18-30) really do not care. However, we are the only ones who can make a difference. One day, we will have to clean up this mess. I think today's youth are a waste. Where are our morals, goals and zest in life? All we care about is Hollywood, Laguna Beach and MySpace. I think we are in a time of crisis! We have the lowest voting average amongst our age group. Nobody seems to care. And no, it hasn't divided our country. All that is going on is a lot of people biitching... and nobody acting. It is a sad world and I cannot believe how selfish we all are. What happened to humanity?

Answer 5

There are more people and it is the information age, so naturally it is the most debated. It's starting to look like it is the first time that such a large majority are uniting against a war. Vietnam was not the first war that a large segment was opposed to. The Mexican American War was also very unpopular.

Answer 6

Yes, I would probably have to agree that the War in Iraq has polarized the US both within our country and internationally, more than any other war in our history. On the other hand, the Vietnam war may have been even polarizing due to the fact that there were violent protest riots during that time. We haven't really seen hardly any violent protests in our country during this war. However, I think it has damaged our reputation and image far greater than the Vietnam war did.

Answer 7

The Vietnam War was much more divisive. More than 50,000 Americans died there. The war caused huge family fights and is considered one of the defining times in our history (like the Civil War, the Great Depresssion, WWII).

The Civil War is like another animal, but I can tell you it was not popular in the North.

Answer 8

There is no such thing as a just war. It is barbaric. We are intelligent people & not one person can tell you what a war is about except for people who are making money. So Cheney had Halliburton & Bin Laden made his fortune from construction. McCain is not at all an intelligent man & stood up & said if he was elected we would put troops all around the world. He then named all the places they needed to be. I think Cheney, Bin & Bush forgot to tell him that he was not supposed to tell anyone that or he forgot. The people who heard this the same time I did got distracted with him singing Bomb, bomb, bomb bomb, bomb Iran. So in the USA we have brainwashed people who think they have freedom because of war. I was born free & everything I have is because I created it by asking for it & accepting it. Meanwhile, the corporations take advantage of these people who can not tell you how it can be worth it to lose a family member for a war. They say they are proud.

Answer 9

Getting close to the reputation of hatred in America that surpassed Vietnam and Korea. The stupidity to this goes back to the Civil War.

Answer 10

People are using the war to promote their own political party so the Dem's criticize it to make Bush look bad.

Some facts

In Iraq we spend 2% of the budget
In WWII we spent 40% of the GDP

In Iraq we loose 3 men per day average
In WWII we lost 6000 men in one day.

We won the Iraq war in 2 days now it is just a police action against thugs that want to take control of the country.

Answer 11

The Iraq war is this generations Vietnam.