Soldiers Oppose A Military Re-Engagement In Iraq

A couple of days ago, I wrote about a survey by NBC News and the Wall Street Journal. That survey showed that, if necessary, about 45% of the American public said they would support sending ground troops to fight ISIS if our military leaders said it was necessary -- and a whopping 72% thought a substantial number of combat ground troops would eventually be sent back to Iraq.

But our own soldiers are not as amenable to the idea of sending troops back into Iraq as the general public seems to be. The chart above was made from information contained in a survey done by Military Times magazine. They surveyed 2,200 active-duty troops in a reader survey during August. That survey showed that over 70% of the soldiers opposed sending ground combat troops back into Iraq, while less than 30% supported it. These are the guys who would be doing the fighting, and they think it would be a mistake.

I agree with them. The conflict in that area is a religious civil war, and it must be settled by those who live in that region. The United States cannot settle this conflict for the Iraqis and Syrians, and cannot win militarily. All our involvement will do is to get U.S. soldiers killed, and create more enemies through the killing of more innocent civilians. We need to stop this insanity now.

The survey also asked the soldiers if the war in Iraq had been a success. When they asked that in previous years, a majority of the soldiers said yes -- but that is no longer true. Now about 59.6% of our active-duty soldiers say it was not. The truth about what we failed to accomplish in Iraq is now becoming very apparent to them.