February 19, 2003
Anti-American?
Are the anti-war protests a sign of anti-Americanism? I think far more non-Americans are motivated by anti-Americanism than Americans are. I think there is a fringe, but a fringe only, of anti-war people in this country who are reflexively anti-American, who think the biggest problem in the world is American and who pretty much think America is always wrong and the root of all evil. Many, if not most, of those who are anti-war here aren't anti-American but anti-Republican. For them, the problem is that a Republican president wants to go to war. I've had several anti-war people tell me that if Clinton or Gore were President, they would have no problem with war against Iraq. They trust them, but they don't trust Bush. And I think you can see that in the different reactions to Clinton's wars than Bush's wars. They were for Clinton's wars, even when they didn't involve the UN or the US Congress; they didn't mind the use of ultimatum over diplomacy; they didn't mind civilian casualties, open ended commitments, nor the possibility of quagmires; in short they didn't demand the same things of Clinton they demand of Bush. And to be fair, there are people who would be far more wary of war with Iraq, if not against it altogether, if Clinton or Gore were President than they are with Bush as President.
Of course, there are plenty of people who are just anti-war period, and it doesn't matter who the President would be. And there are people who have good reasons to reject not any war but this war with Iraq, no matter who the President is. So clearly, for Americans to be against war with Iraq isn't necessarily, nor even likely, to be anti-American.
Posted by Kevin Murphy at February 19, 2003 03:54 PM | Culture
