Close to two decades after the United States began costly wars in the broader Middle East, a new survey finds that most Americans feel Afghanistan and Iraq war were not worth fighting.
A new Pew Research Center survey of veterans and a parallel survey of American adults finds that most veterans and the public share the sentiment.
The Research Center reports that 64% of veterans say the war in Iraq was not worth fighting considering the costs versus the benefits to the United States, while 33% say it was.
Showing almost the same pattern of evaluation, 62% of Americans overall say the Iraq War wasn’t worth it and 32% say it was.
The general public and veterans also share the views on 9/11-triggered Afghan war that now ranks as the longest military conflict in the U.S. history. Majorities of both veterans (58%) and the public (59%) see the Afghan war as not worth fighting. The surveys find that four-in-ten or fewer say the Afghan conflict was worth fighting.
The survey comes as President Trump seeks to end the Afghan war through a negotiated settlement involving Afghan groups. Studies have revealed that the United States has spent trillions of dollars on the two wars, launched under President George W Bush. President Barack Obama escalated the Afghan and pulled back troops from Iraq at great peril to the country and the region.
The U.S. invaded Afghanistan in late 2001 in the aftermath of 9/11 terrorist attacks and launched the Iraq war in March 23 on controversial claims that the Arab country was acquiring weapons of mass destruction.
The Pew Research has also made Full topline results and methodology available.
The Pew findings – reported this week – reveal that “veterans who served in either Iraq or Afghanistan are no more supportive of those engagements than those who did not serve in these wars.”
These views among veterans do not differ based on rank or combat experience.
However, views differ significantly along party thinking, with Republican and Republican-leaning veterans being much more likely than Democratic leaning veterans seeing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan worth fighting.
According to the survey, 45% of Republican veterans vs. 15% of Democratic veterans feel the war in Iraq was worth fighting, while 46% of Republican veterans and 26% of Democratic veterans say the same about Afghanistan.
The public shares those views almost identically.
Meanwhile, the survey shows Americans’ views on U.S. military engagement in Syria are also more negative than positive.
Among veterans, 42% say the campaign in Syria has been worth it, while 55% say it has not. The public has very similar views: 36% say U.S. efforts in Syria have been worthwhile, while 58% say they have not.
SOURCE: Pew Research Center
At last they accepted the Reality .