More things from the email box

A little something from Larry Elder

Plotting the war curve
By Larry Elder
http://insider.washingtontimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=200503
25-083716-9631r

At a recent White House press conference, New York Times
reporter Elisabeth Bumiller called Deputy Defense Secretary Paul
Wolfowitz, President Bush's nominee for president of the World
Bank, "a chief architect of one of the most unpopular wars in our
history."
"One of the most unpopular wars in our history"? Hmmm, sounds
like another editorial masquerading as a question. To the history
books.
¢ Revolutionary War: Founding Father John Adams estimated
one-third of Americans opposed independence, one-third were
indifferent or vacillated, and only one-third supported the War of
Indepen-dence. In other words, two-thirds of Americans were not
in favor of the Revolutionary War. Pro-British Loyalists, called
Tories by the American patriots, opposed the war. The Loyalists
came from all social classes and occupations. While they tended
to be foreign-born and Anglican, Loyalists included large
landowners, small farmers and royal officeholders, with a many
engaged in commerce and other professions. The Loyalists were
strongest in the far Southern Colonies and the Middle Atlantic
Colonies, especially New York and Pennsylvania, where fighting
became a bitter civil war of raids and reprisals.
¢ War of 1812: While supported by frontiersmen's desire for free
land, Southerners who wanted West Florida, and Western
militants who wanted the British out of Canada, the war was
voted against by every Federalist member of Congress. The
humiliating defeats suffered by American troops made the fight so
unpopular that the New England states ” which never favored the
war ” considered seceding.
¢ Mexican-American War: Northern abolitionists and Whig
members of Congress widely opposed this 1846 war. The
opposition included then-Rep. Abraham Lincoln, and they called
the war an "unnecessary and unconstitutional" war of "conquest."
In fact, when the war ended, Congress censured President James
Polk for starting the hostilities.
¢ Civil War: Both sides expected the war to last no more than a
few months. The Civil War necessitated conscription of able-
bodied males by the Union, and prompted nationwide, violent
mob protest. In New York City, large-scale, bloody riots raged for
four days, causing 1,000 casualties. The so-called "copperheads"
opposed the Civil War, and staged some of the largest riots in
American history. Widespread Northern antiwar sentiment made
President Lincoln pessimistic about his prospects for re-election in
1864. Indeed, a leading copperhead (or "peace Democrat") wrote
that year's Democratic Party platform. Ultimately, Lincoln won re-
election when public sentiment turned around after the Union
Army took Atlanta.
¢ Spanish-American War: The press heatedly debated this 1898
war, and the war declaration passed with a margin of only seven
votes in the Senate. Popular support for the relatively easy fight
evaporated over the controversial annexing of Spain's colonies,
such as the Philippines. In 1900, Democratic presidential
candidate William Jennings Bryan made his opposition to the war
the centerpiece of his campaign.
¢ World War I: In 1916, two years after the war began in Europe,
President Woodrow Wilson ran for re-election as a peace
candidate who "kept us out of war." Critics pounded Wilson after
the U.S. entered the conflict. Opponents of America's involvement
in World War I filled Madison Square Garden with protest
meetings. War opponents included many Irish- and German-
Americans, trade unions, socialists, pacifists and progressive
members of vocal radical groups. During this period those groups
saw a substantial rise in membership, giving them an even more
powerful voice against the war. Wilson considered existing laws
insufficient to handle antiwar sentiment, and his administration
used various legal tools to deal with the "problem" of disloyalty
” including censorship and imprisonment. More than 250 people
were convicted under the Espionage Act in less than a year.
¢ Korean War: U.S. military involvement began in the spring of
1950 with popular support. By January 1951, however, 49 percent
of Americans believed sending troops to Korea was a mistake, and
66 percent wanted us to pull out. The war's unpopularity played an
important role in the election of President Dwight D. Eisenhower,
who pledged to end the war.
¢ Vietnam War: In a 1971 public opinion poll, 71 percent called
the Vietnam War a mistake, and 58 percent called it immoral.
¢ World War II: This is the sole major U.S. military conflict with
no organized block of dissenters after America entered the war.
This, of course, happened only after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor
and Germany declared war on the United States.
This brings us to the "unpopular" Iraqi War. Mr. Bush obtained a
resolution from Congress (which passed the House 296 to 133,
and the Senate 77 to 23) authorizing use of force. At the time of
America's entry into Iraq in 2003, a CBS/New York Times poll
found 76 percent of Americans approved of the U.S. military
action against Iraq. Even now, the majority of Americans want us
to stay the course.
Aside from that, the New York Times reporter pretty much nailed
it.