Whenever I hear about the Iraq war on the "leftist" podcasts I listen to (other than Media Roots Radio) I always get hit with the usual suspects to blame - freakin' Hillary, the 'Democrat' party leadership (most rank-and-file congressional Ds voted against Iraq), or the uniquely evil super-genius Bush.
Why does no one ever dive into opinion polls at the time showing something like 70-80% of wypipo supported the invasion? It isn't even uniquely interesting to point out 'hypocrites' like Tucker Carlson, Donald Trump or Glenn Greenwald supported invading Iraq - because it would be really strange if they didn't. I do remember Bill Maher saying US troops would get their asses kicked in March 2003 but that was probably just part of his bit of being the ugly guy who gets booed
Americans were whipped into a frenzy in an incredibly scary and effective way. It was in all media you could find at the time.
I was on a discord call yesterday with other users and we brought up a Disney Channel movie made in that short window between 02-03 that was ONE OF MANY that was pushing pro-war propaganda.
Americans were made to want the war, our culture bent to the will of those who wanted blood.
If you werent there, it’s because you couldnt have been old enough to be there, but i cant possibly describe the character of that time without either of us thinking I’m making it up
They connected Saddam with Al-Qaeda and said he would give them WMD to use on us.
Iraq giving WMDs to Al Qaeda would be as absurd as the Jews giving Zyklon-B to Hitler.
And the absurdity wouldnt scan because americans could barely differentiate iran from iraq anyway
Iraq we supported against Iran. They were the "good guys" up until the war ended. Then just a few years later, the US State Department greenlighted the invasion of Kuwait and Gulf War I was on.
Even after the invasion. I remember watching a wonk say something about the flag that survived at the WTC was the same one flying in Baghdad when Sadam's statue was pulled down.
Also important is to remember things like the Seattle WTO protests of ‘99