Pew report: Most veterans say the Iraq and Afghanistan wars were not worth fighting

[rangerrebew]

Pew report: Most veterans say the Iraq and Afghanistan wars were not worth fighting
 

By NIKKI WENTLING | Stars and Stripes | Published: July 10, 2019

WASHINGTON — About two-thirds of veterans think the Iraq War was not worth fighting, and more than 50% think the same about the war in Afghanistan, according to the Pew Research Center.

Pew, a nonpartisan think tank, released results of a new study Wednesday in which 64% of veterans said the Iraq War wasn’t worth fighting, considering the costs versus the benefit to the U.S. Of the ongoing war in Afghanistan, 58% of veterans said the same.

Pew surveyed a sample of 1,284 veterans and 1,087 other adults in May and June and compared their answers. The think tank drew participants from a panel of randomly selected adults who are representative of the U.S. in terms of age, gender, education, income and geographic region.

https://www.stripes.com/news/veterans/pew-report-most-veterans-say-the-iraq-and-afghanistan-wars-were-not-worth-fighting-1.589753

[Absalom]

As Von Clausewitz asserted, War is simply an extension of politics.
As we have become ever more enfeebled by our political jackasses, it should
hardly be any surprise that this malaise extends to our war making capabilities.

[berdie]

They probably feel that way because they were not allowed to fight. I don't blame them.

[Sanguine]

I just checked with my vet (3 combat tours, one in one, and two in the other) and, he said it was complicated, but overall "yes".

[Wingnut]

Admins tied their hands.  Those guys could have killed all the Muzzies if they would have been let loose to do what we trained them to do. 

[TomSea]

This has been reported all over the news, despite this source, the Iranian,  I even heard this story on the radio.

Majorities Of US Veterans And Public Believe Wars In Iraq And Afghanistan 'Not Worth Fighting' | The Iranian
by Jessica Corbett
5-6 minutes

The majority of American veterans and members of the general public agreed in two new surveys that the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the U.S. military campaign in Syria, were all “not worth fighting.”

The Pew Research Center, for the pair of polls published Wednesday, asked all respondents to consider the costs versus the benefits to the United States in their analysis of whether each conflict was worthwhile.

Roughly two-thirds of both veterans and members of the public told Pew that the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq wasn’t worth it, and nearly 60 percent said they felt the same way about the ongoing 18-year war in Afghanistan—the longest in U.S. history. The numbers were slightly lower for opposing the American-led intervention in the Syrian Civil War, which is also ongoing.



Read more at: https://iranian.com/2019/07/11/majorities-of-us-veterans-and-public-believe-wars-in-iraq-and-afghanistan-not-worth-fighting/

Still, 38% did find Afghanistan worthwhile. A good sized minority actually.

[Mod5]

Topics merged.

[Bill Cipher]

I just checked with my vet (3 combat tours, one in one, and two in the other) and, he said it was complicated, but overall "yes".

“Yes” in what way?  Yes, it was not worth fighting, or yes, it was worth fighting?

[Sanguine]

“Yes” in what way?  Yes, it was not worth fighting, or yes, it was worth fighting?

Yes, he thought it was worth fighting.

[InHeavenThereIsNoBeer]

I wonder which Iraq war they're thinking of.

I'm not a fan of our going in in the first place, but once we did the whole "no fly" thing just wasn't working.

[Bill Cipher]

Yes, he thought it was worth fighting.

Ok. Sorry for asking, I wasn’t sure from your original post.

[Sanguine]

Ok. Sorry for asking, I wasn’t sure from your original post.

No problem, I wasn't fully clear.