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
Oh, the (many, many) people who were saying this were completely unconcerned with the political alignment of members of the US military. The nation was obsessed with revenge and dead set on MAKING THEM PAY. Who was "them"? It could be anyone convenient. Iraq had fuck all to do with 9/11, but hurting them satisfied the bloodlust and made people feel powerful again.
I'm literally just a shitposting zoomer so I have no memory of the time. Did people actually have that in their heads? "If you're angry about imperialism, enlist"? Or was the saying "If you're angry about anti-US warriors, enlist"?
EDIT: Nvm I think I misunderstood you, I doubt there would be any need for the military to appeal to anti-imperialists when the whole nation was out for blood already.
Right, people were completely enraged (and terrified on a level that's hard to explain--there are lots of scary things now of course, but the "ambient level of fear," if that makes sense, is a lot higher now so the fear was really shocking in a way that few things feel these days) and were out for blood. "If you're pissed, enlist" meant "If you're pissed at [anti-Muslim slur], enlist so you can get revenge." Were you taking revenge on the same people who perpetrated the attacks? Who cares! What reasons might people have to attack the US? Who cares! Will this just feed into an endless cycle of violence that just begets more violence? Who cares!
That's super interesting. One thing I remember my history teacher telling me in high school was "you have no idea what it was like pre-9/11 because you were too young," i.e "ambient level of fear" was lower. Since then I've thought it was a very west-centric way of viewing things, like it was just one building getting attacked, considering all the other horrible shit in the world I doubt it's THAT big of a deal globally. Like how Afghani farmers have no idea wtf 9/11 is, but they sure do know about American troops.
But yeah, from the perspective of a westerner, that shift seems to have been crazy dramatic.
It really was different. The "end of history" bullshit really was widely believed. Even things like school shootings--Paducah was in 97, Columbine was in 99, and there were others, but at that point it still seemed like something that would be fixed, not the new normal that it is today. So each shooting was a shock in a way that they just aren't any more. If you joined the military, you were going to get free college but you weren't going to really do anything as a soldier. People really got swept up in the shocked fear and rage after 9/11. I'm old enough to remember the Berlin wall coming down--I was a kid, so I didn't really get the significance but I remember people dancing on the wall and my parents were VERY EXCITED. The wall came down, the USSR fell, and it seemed like there were no real serious enemies any more. Sure, things weren't perfect and there were small conflicts around the world, but the US was safe. Nobody was launching nukes at us, and nobody was invading us. With 9/11 we had a Serious Enemy again, and everything changed. One way to illustrate how absurd things got is by telling you a story I heard from relatives in Indiana. They told me that at one point that there was a list made of possible terrorist targets so people could prepare security and make sure another tragedy didn't happen. Well, the list included the things you would expect--government buildings, stadiums, etc . . . and also an Amish popcorn company in a small town. Who the fuck is bombing a small town Amish popcorn factory? (Twirls mustache--"They'll never see it coming!")But they were on the list, just in case. People were scared. And like a dog at bay, ready to bite anyone within reach.