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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JohnM who wrote (20321)	3/1/2002 11:50:35 AM
From: Nadine Carroll	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 281500

At the moment, that policy still looks like a lose-lose to me for the Bushies. Invade and they will run into a torrent of public opposition which will grow to levels we have not seen since the Vietnam years when the body bags start coming back. John, do you mean to imply that an Iraq invasion will become a quagmire -- years of a stalemated war with 300+ dead American soldiers a week? Because that's what it took to make Vietnam into an unpopular war. Bodybags alone won't do it, if the war looks to be victorious. I think there's more reason to be afraid of the peace after the war, not the war itself.

To: JohnM who wrote (20321)	3/1/2002 12:11:08 PM
From: tekboy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

I agree with your description of their predicament. But if they take the Pollack route, then the "torrent of public opposition" will be like the turbulence a plane goes through when it approaches the sound barrier: things will start to shake, rattle, and roll, it will get very dicey for a while, but if they just hang on they will burst through into the clear and the yammerers will be silenced. tb@rightstuff.com

To: JohnM who wrote (20321)	3/1/2002 1:15:38 PM
From: bela_ghoulashi	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

I think you've got it all wrong. There might be a "torrent of opposition" from many in the leisured pundit class and anti-American opportunists around the globe, but not from the American public at large. I think they will fall more along the strongly supportive to stoically accepting end of the spectrum. Plus--quick, early, and visible successes (of the bombing video variety) will make it much more difficult for "opposition" to gain significant traction. We saw all of that in the first Gulf War. Protesters nostalgic for Vietnam era glories were routinely shouted down and appeared sad, pathetic, and out of touch on the evening news. As long as American military action is demonstrably successful and determined, and perceived as prudently responsible in minimizing civilian death, the public at large will support it. America loves a winner. America loves a winning attitude. Give them those, and they will give you the benefit of the doubt. As we have seen.