Brian M Downing
In 1965 the US took on the main combat load in Vietnam. Each year saw more US troops, more fighting and casualties, and few if any signs of progress. Two years in, popular and elite opposition was rising. The following year public opposition was all the higher and more importantly, the White House’s national security team was deeply divided over the war.
The Iraq war brought a measure of public opposition but it was only part of a broader movement. The environment, social injustice, and the contested 2000 election were more important than the war itself. In any case the Iraqi government ordered the US out five years after the invasion.
No meaningful opposition to the Afghan war arose, neither in the public nor in the high councils of government. It was deemed a good war, at least compared to Iraq, and had to be seen through to the end. It went on twenty years, about three times longer than Vietnam, formerly our longest war. The absence of opposition allowed the war to go on to its recent end.
Popular opposition
Antiwar demonstrations of the Vietnam era grew out of the civil rights movement, though it had far more ire and eventually substantial violence. In recent years there’s been a jarring increase in protest and violence, at least as much as anything in 1968. None of it focused on the Afghan war, despite several cases of atrocities, civilian casualties, and years of eroding the good war aura.
GI deaths in twenty years of the Afghan war were about 5% of those in Vietnam, or about 15% of those in 1968 alone and that goes a long way in explaining the dearth of public protest. However, 2,500 deaths in a long war with few signs of progress and many signs of deterioration should have caused significant disquiet. The war went on.
Tens of thousands of soldiers in the Vietnam era had been taken from civilian life by conscription and sent to war. Almost everyone knew young men who had been drafted or volunteered and went off to Vietnam. Most knew someone killed there. By 1968 the turmoil was fierce and the war as it was being fought could not be continued.
On assuming the presidency in 1969, and shortly after Hamburger Hill in May of that year, Richard Nixon drastically reduced big ground operations and shifted combat loads to S Vietnamese troops. More importantly he decreased draft levies and began a volunteer army based on pay incentives, skill acquisition, and patriotic appeals.
Two years later US troop levels were down 30% and casualties fell 55% over 1968 levels. Two years after that, they were down another 85% and 78%, respectively. The antiwar movement fizzled.
The casualties and turmoil of Vietnam ended conscription and began the volunteer army. That in turn led to a serious problem with government war powers. Americans are free to pursue careers and raise families without concern for military service or war. Few know anyone in the military, let alone anyone killed in action.
Wars have neither the emotional significance nor political importance they once had and politicians and generals can wage war with little worry of popular opposition. Wars drag on and on, regardless of their justifications, prospects, or costs.
© 2021 Brian M Downing
Brian M Downing is a national security analyst who’s written for outlets across the political spectrum. He studied at Georgetown University and the University of Chicago, and did post-graduate work at Harvard’s Center for International Affairs. Thanks as ever to Susan Ganosellis.