[Peace-discuss] Re: new P4P idea

[C. G. Estabrook]

[Regarding the suggestion that P4P accentuate American deaths in Iraq -- a
comment from another list that seems to me to be on to something. --CGE]

... I noticed before the war started that the American people were more
opposed to war when it was associated with Iraqi civilian casualties than
when it was associated with American military casualties.  I think there
is a strong discomfort by Americans with a "video game" war where we
essentially shoot Iraqi fish in a barrel.  But US soldiers dying shows
that Americans are willing to sacrifice for their ideals (in the minds of
war supporters), so those deaths actually make the war more justified for
many people I suspect.  It also justifies the war to avenge their deaths,
that ever-pleasant cycle of violence that drives most conflicts.

What is most likely to dim American support is if the Iraqi internal
opposition continues and it becomes clear that most of the population
rejects our presence.  This war was sold as a war of liberation and while
the rightwing is comfortable with a war of conquest, the vast middle is
not -- that is what will turn people most against the war, not American
casualties.

-- Nathan Newman