Why can't Americans make up their minds about the Iraq war?

Nearly two-thirds of us thought the war was a mistake five years ago. Now barely half do

Troops salute after they arrive at their home base of Fort Hood, after being part of one of the last American combat units to exit from Iraq on December 16, 2011.
(Image credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Ten years after the invasion of Iraq, 53 percent of Americans now say the war was a mistake, according to a new Gallup poll. Forty-two percent still think that it was a good idea — even though it lasted years longer than promised, even though it cost more lives and money than anyone expected, even though Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction, one of the justifications for the war, never turned up. In 2008, Americans had a far dimmer view, with 63 percent calling the war a mistake. Immediately after the 2003 invasion only 23 percent thought it was a bad idea.

"Wars often spur times of immense national unity — moments in which partisan politics dissipate and dissent is muted," says Gallup. But the consensus is "is famously temporary." In hindsight, opinions about the war vary sharply along — what else? — partisan lines. "Not surprisingly," the polling firm says, "given that the war was begun in the administration of a Republican, former President George W. Bush," 66 percent of Republican-leaning respondents think the U.S. was right to go into Iraq, while 73 percent of Democratic leaners think the decision was an error.

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.