Obama War: Syria The most Unpopular Ever in American History

August 27, 2013

Image: Wikimedia Commons

Support for an attack on Syria amongst Americans is more than three times lower than support for US involvement in Vietnam at the very lowest ebb of the war, illustrating how universally unpopular such a move would be despite the media claiming Obama would “lose credibility” if he does not launch a military assault.

Chickenhawk politicians and the corporate press have repeatedly floated the talking point that Obama must follow through on his “red line” threat in order to save face and rescue credibility. Credibility with whom? Certainly not the American people – only 9 per cent of which support intervention in Syria according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.

If Obama got the United States embroiled in a conflict with Syria, it would be the least popular war in the history of the country.

Even at its most dire point in May 1971, 28 per cent of the American people still thought it was the right decision to send troops into Vietnam.

Despite the predictable hellhole it later turned into, Obama’s intervention in Libya was supported by a comparatively huge 47 per cent of Americans back in 2011, while 76 per cent initially supported the invasion of Iraq and 90 per cent backed the assault on Afghanistan.

As Washington’s Blog highlights, other things that Americans find more appealing than attacking Syria include “North Korea, cockroaches, lice, root canals, colonoscopies, traffic jams, used car salesmen, Genghis Khan, Communism, BP during the Gulf oil spill, Nixon during Watergate or King George during the American Revolution.”

Even Congress with its 15 per cent approval rating is almost twice as popular as the notion of attacking Syria.

With missile strikes set to be launched as early as Thursday, it seems the only “credibility” the Obama administration is concerned about retaining is their credibility with the military-industrial complex, which is about to lead America into yet another ludicrous, dangerous and unaffordable conflict which will empower Al-Qaeda led terrorists in seizing control of a major middle eastern country.

Forget claims about chemical weapons attacks, Syria has been targeted for annihilation for at least 12 years. As General Wesley Clark explains in the clip below, the Pentagon put the country on a list of seven nations destined for destruction in the weeks after 9/11.

This is why the White House couldn’t care less about the fact that the vast majority of Americans oppose intervention – the fix is already in.