There was some distressing news the other day about how much, or how little, the American people were paying attention to the war in Iraq. The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press conducted a poll to find out what people knew of various political, economic and military situations.
Turns out only 28 per cent of respondents could say how many U.S. servicemembers had died in Iraq. The answer was about 4,000. Last August, 54 per cent had the correct answer -- then about 3,500. In other aspects too, the public is simply less aware of what is happening in the war zone. (I include Afghanistan, even though, regrettably, it wasn't dealt with in the Pew poll.)
It's no wonder; news about the war has dropped sharply in recent months. Among various media, the percentage of news stories about the war stood at only 3 per cent in February, compared with 15 per cent in July. (For a look at TV coverage alone, click here.)
There are clear reasons for the dropoff: The media frenzy over the presidential nominating campaigns, the drooping economy and, yes, the reduction in violence credited to the "surge" in Iraq. While little more than a quarter of respondents knew the right number of war dead, a bountiful 84 per cent knew that the talk show host backing Barack Obama was Oprah Winfrey.
Stars and Stripes, of course, isn't curbing war coverage -- even though that coverage is more likely to make Page 1 in the Mideast edition than in the Europe or Pacific ones.
The commitment shows in a series of articles that began running March 18 marking the 5th anniversary of the start of the Iraq war. It continues for two more days and I highly recommend it. In case you missed the printed version, here's a link to the stories on the Web. Other news outlets are noting the anniversary as well, but most won't be showing the same intensity for it that they muster for the ever-hot political and economic happenings -- or even, unfortunately, for the antics of troubled celebrities.
IMHO
I agree whole heartedly with the core idea that this Terror War on the World has drifted from the covert outer conscious of Americans and really the world, with few exceptions for those who face us, or act in proxy opposing us. Yet, in my humble opinion, unlike my Vietnam, its being, its sacrifices, and really its purpose are far from unnoticed in the true consciousness of the average American who regrettable are trained to accept only instant gratification, not the rigors of a long ordeal of character and survival as we are now in.
The difference I speculate, of late in particular, is, unlike the Vietnam war and the warriors of that era, the narcissism of public self interest is disjointed by self sacrificing volunteerism which couples like a fright car to the train of unconscious aversion for the successes of late, which are not in the interest nor the purview of this new paradigm I call the “Pom Pom” Media. That minority of a false majority, who have sound bit trained the public by no longer reporting the news, in the balance of “the good, the bad and the ugly,” but like in the Vietnam era, have become more self creators of a desired emotional impression of the news, that a selective elite few edit, to fit to a pattern of competitive, often agenda driven, finger in wind, journalism, which stands overall, at perhaps its lowest level of credulity, trust and confidence ever.
The chatter of the misinformed is only masked so slightly, today, by the chafe of willful misinformation’s misinformation.
We have not forgotten our brothers and sisters in harms way, nor will we in the end not know what they did there, was for us, the good, the bad and ugly in all of us.
My thanks are not enough, but my belief in them, is.
Ignoring the war
I too choose to ignore what is going on in Iraq because the majority of Americans and the world, we were tricked into the war by the President of the U.S. He takes no responsibility for his decisions and tricking the entire world. I know ignoring the war will make it go away. One thing I am sure will go away is the President come January 09. We will elect a new leader. One that will hopefully point or country in the direction of recovery and prosperity. January can't get here soon enough for me.
3992 Dead Americans
Many people do not want to know. [http://www.king5.com/localnews/stories/NW_031908WAB_war_dead_
billboard_TP.825c495.html] They prefer not to be reminded that our misadventure, executed under the silly, ignorant, sad, transparent, & nation-embarrassing pretense “War on Terror,” has cost 3992 American lives. Because then we have to ask ourselves “For what?” And how did we Americans let our Whitehouse administration hijack our Constitutional values? And then get back in for a second term??
That’s a hard question to answer, and will one day be as hard to explain to our children & grandchildren as it now is for those German citizens who were alive while Hitler spread his evil agenda. Saying “I didn’t vote for W” for us Americans is like saying “I didn’t vote for Hitler” for those Germans. The important question is “What did you do to stop it?”
Avoiding the ugly facts of this war is a like sticking our heads in the sand as we are exposed to the real danger. Each day we conduct this unjust war we create enemies; whom we will have to deal with, or take casualties from, down the line. This war needs to come to a stop NOW! Our country owes a few apologies (i.e. France – who tried to advise us of wise caution, the need for a UN Mandate and more time for weapons inspectors before jumping head first into war, and we arrogantly and wrongly responded to them with freedom fries and other anti-French sentiment. But France was right. And had we not did our pompous and macho Bring-It-On posture we might have saved 3992 American lives).
Those who try to paint the Americans who oppose this war as treasonous are amiss. They are attempting to stop debate, thought, and a very needed course-correction for American foreign policy. Groups like Gathering of Eagles, Free Republic, and Move America Forward are formed to suppress discussion by Americans. Peel that onion and you will find those groups are hell-bent on quashing the voices of opposing opinion; they are so far removed from the ideals, principles, and the spirit of our Constitution they have become anti-American.
Sorrowfully, until our nation wakes-up and takes some action, American deaths will continue to mount.; 4,000…5,000. Hell, let's just shortcut and count lost Americans by “K”. 6K...9K…12K…do you dare to take a guess? S&S readers will continue to die. Our brothers and sisters who have sworn to protect and defend the Constitution (who are doing neither by this war) will die. In the war zone, the guy stepping outside for a cigarette will fatally take mortar; and the guy walking to the gym will take a bullet in his aorta; convoys will continue to explode; and those who are tired and burned out on war will make bad decisions. And the children left at home will continue to grow up with absent parents on their 4th, 5th, & 6th rotations.
What is ignoring this egocentric-war and allowing it to continue worth? Your life? Your kids’ lives? Another 4,000 American lives?
This war should be front page news, in our face, every day until we are sick of it and we as a nation resolve it with some integrity.
Too many are ignoring the war, but many continue to oppose it.
Sadly, you are correct about "how little the American people [are] paying attention to the war in Iraq." Even more sadly, it seems that such interest registers a slight bounce only when we observe another "anniversary," such as the fifth anniversary we just had, or when our soldiers' death toll reaches another tragic milestone, such as the fast-approaching 4,000 number.
To me, an indication of such a lack of interest was the little amount of reaction there has been to a comment last week by Vice President Cheney, when he was asked in an ABC interview what he thought about polls that indicate that two-thirds of Americans believe the war was not worth fighting; that the cost in lives was not worth the gains. In my opinion, Mr. Cheney could have bristled at the suggestion that our troops' sacrifices are not worth "the gains," and explained why they are. Or he could have said that the administration values the opinion of the majority of Americans, but that the administration has set a course it believes is right, and that it will continue to pursue such course, "damn the torpedoes."
But, instead, our Vice President smirked an uttered a single little word, "So?"
When pressed by the reporter whether he cares about the opinion of the American people, Mr. Cheney tried to emend his response by saying “you can not be blown off course by the fluctuations in the public opinion polls.” You know, those pesky surveys on the will of the American people; those polls that show that public opinion against the war has been steadily “fluctuating” upward since almost the beginning of the war.
You mention a few of the reasons for the "dropoff" in public interest in the war. You are probably right. But, contrary to the Vice President's assertions, and notwithstanding his heads-in-the-sand attitude, a significant majority of the American people still pay enough attention to the war to know that it is wrong and to continue to oppose it.
Maj. Dorian de Wind (Ret.)
4,000 Dead Americans -- So?
Sadly Maj de Wind, we have in fact now hit that tragic figure of 4,000 that you hoped (we all hoped) would not happen as expressed in your thoughtful letter published last week.
I think it's worth looking at what you pointed out above in regards to the level of concern and compasion of our Vice President:
ABC's Martha Raddatz: "Two-thirds of Americans say it’s not worth fighting, and they’re looking at the value gain versus the cost in American lives, certainly, and Iraqi lives."
Cheney: So?