Why did most of americans support war in Iraq when it began and now they don't?

Answer 1

in the beginning they thought it would be a piece of cake, you know in and out, now that piece of cake is giving them indigestion.

Answer 2

People supported the war because the government told them that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and was an immediate threat to America. The administration instilled fear in to the people so that they would be less likely to question the motives for war or the plan for waging it. It eventually became obvious that Iraq didn't have weapons of mass destruction, and didn't pose any immediate threat. Many Americans overlooked the fact that they had been misled because they felt that the war could still accomplish something, removing Saddam from power. This was accomplished, but in their haste to invade Iraq the Bush administration neglected to prepare a sound strategy for stabilizing the country. The Bush administration refuses to send American troops home until our mission is "accomplished", but can provided minimal information on what exactly the mission is or how they plan on accomplishing it. The majority of Americans have grown angered over the fact that our president is allowing troops to die to mask his own incompetence.

Answer 3

American public opinion is a very funny thing. Americans are not intellectual and do not tend towards fact-finding and rationalism. They are exceedingly social beings. Conformity and emotional intelligence are far more valued, and Americans form their opinions based on feelings and symbolism. It is a very small minority that would even be capable of researching the facts or understanding how international relations work, so they rely heavily on the media to tell them what to think, and the media in turn relies heavily on popular opinion. People supported the war when it started because that was the popular thing to do. 9/11, mass destruction, the bald eagle, Geraldo, cool artillery, country music. Now the imagery is different- 3 years, 3,000 dead, widows, moms without sons, no weapons of mass destruction, taps playing on the bugle, never caught Bin Laden, Farenheit 9/11, Jon Stewart... It's all propaganda and none of it even grazes the surface of what actually happened.

Iraq was invaded to protect future interest in crude oil prices, given that Saddam controlled vast oil resources and was not in favor of letting the rest of the world have it for cheap while they suffered in poverty trying to recover from the Iran/Iraq war. But you can't tell that to the average redneck voter, so you need something more emotional, and 9/11 got everyone feeling in the mood to go to war, and the neo-conservatives jumped at the chance to secure American oil interests abroad.

Why didn't we go after Bin Laden more than we did? No money to be made. Would have been a fruitless investment of military resources. It would not prevent future acts of terrorism (might make it worse by making him a martyr), and Bin Laden has no resources for us to plunder after offing him. Hussein was a different story- plenty to gain by getting him out of there and getting a government in place willing to play ball with us, at the expense of the common Iraqi people.

Bottom line- the American public is dopey, and they are fed a lot of fairy tales by which they understand the world. Once one group's fairy tales become more convincing than the other side's, public opinion shifts. When 3,000 were dead from 9/11, war sounded good. When 3,000 were dead from war, peace sounded good.

Maybe we should ask Paris Hilton what she thinks of the war.

Answer 4

because the american people were lied to back then and the person we are supposedly looking for is still on the loose,no weapons found in iraq and that country is now a mess thanks to us when this all started it was post 9/11 so there was the emotions the of the people that were being used and that was the perfect time for this to all go down,now that its been over 5 years people are finally realizing what the real deal is/was ..i personally never believed in it from the start

Answer 5

Right before 9/11,republicans got presidency after 8 years of Clinton.They did not want to criticize Bush for anything,even they know that war in Iraq was wrong.They want to give Bush benefit of the doubt.

Answer 6

I honestly believe that most Americans had no idea how involved
our armed forces would end up being in Iraq. I think most thought we were giong to be facing an ill-equipt, under-motivated opposition, and that we wouldn't have the number of casualties
that we have incurred. Also, most had no idea we'd be there as long as we have, much less as long as we will be before it's over.

Answer 7

Because they believed that Iraq had WMD and ties to al Quaeda, thereby representing a direct and immediate threat to the U.S. They now understand that these beliefs were mistaken and believe that the ex-post justifications for the war don't justify the loss of American lives and injured servicemen and servicewomen.

Answer 8

Because the commercial media are biased against our involvement in Iraq. They overwhelmingly spin the news to make the situation look bad and wrong.

Answer 9

Bush took advantage of good American patriotism after 9/11. That was the reasion for his rush to war.

Answer 10

Because we did not have all of the facts at the beginning. Bush was not honest with what he knew. He made so many assumptions about how things would work out and as we all know he was WRONG on so many of them.

Answer 11

The President told us that Osama Bin Laden and Al Quida were in there with Saddam, we believed the lie.