U.S.’ wars in the Middle East weren’t worth fighting, opine most U.S. veterans

us army

U.S. veterans are war-weary, finds a recent poll.

A parallel survey of U.S. adults finds that the public shares the same sentiments found in the poll on vets.

The poll by Pew Research Center finds: Nearly two-thirds of the veterans believe the war in Iraq “was not worth fighting.”

The same poll finds: More than half of the vets think the same about Afghanistan and Syria.

The poll report “Majorities of U.S. veterans, public say the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were not worth fighting” by Ruth Igielnik, senior researcher at Pew Research Center, and Kim Parker, director of social trends research at Pew Research Center,  said:

“Veterans who served in either Iraq or Afghanistan are no more supportive of those engagements than those who did not serve in these wars.”

And, views do not differ based on rank or combat experience.

The report published on July 10, 2019 found a trend of war fatigue.

Other polls found the same.

The Pew poll finds:

  • Among veterans, 64% say the war in Iraq was not worth fighting considering the costs versus the benefits to the United States.
  • And, 33% say it was.
  • The public’s views are nearly identical: 62% of Americans overall say the Iraq War wasn’t worth it and 32% say it was.
  • Majorities of both veterans (58%) and the public (59%) say the war in Afghanistan was not worth fighting.
  • About four-in-ten or fewer say it was worth fighting.
  • Fifty-five percent of vets said the Syrian campaign wasn’t worth it, and 58 percent of their civilian counterparts agreed.
  • While the surveyed vets’ opinions remained mostly constant no matter when and how long they’d served, the divide between political parties was sharp, with fully three times as many Republican vets (45 percent) as Democrats believing the Iraq war was a worthwhile endeavor.
  • Only twice as many Republicans (46 percent) supported the war in Afghanistan as Democrats.
  • A little over twice as many Republicans (54 percent) believed the Syrian campaign had been worth it.

Afghanistan war is the longest war in US history had been pointless.

U.S. President Donald Trump recently clamped down on the amount of data released by the Pentagon regarding the conflict as the Taliban has gradually retaken over half the country’s territory.

The mounting disdain for regime-change wars extended to Syria, where the U.S. intervened in 2014 and still remains despite the promises by Trump to pull out.

While the U.S. never officially declared war on Syria, it sent upwards of 2,000 soldiers there and built a network of outposts that only became widespread knowledge when Trump announced the ill-fated pullout.

A plurality of vets of both parties, however, approved of Trump’s performance as commander in chief, though slightly less than half believed his policies had made the military stronger – a more positive view of the president than that held by the general public.

With the total cost for the “War on Terror” approaching $6 trillion, nearly two decades of constant war has taken its toll on the American military.

By the end of 2019, soldiers will be enlisting who were not even born when the war in Afghanistan began.


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