Matthew Hoh is the Associate Director of the Eisenhower Media Network. Matt is a former Marine Corps captain, a former Afghanistan State Department officer, a disabled Iraq War veteran, and a Senior Fellow Emeritus with the Center for International Policy.
Dear Antiwar.com Reader,
I suppose many of you have noticed something about American public opinion. Previously, US wars would sustain public support for at least a few years until the weight of a war’s accumulated lies, moral and physical atrocities, costs, strategic failures, and counterproductive outcomes caused a collapse of public support. This has been the case for most of our lives, ranging from Vietnam through Central America to Afghanistan and Iraq. But in the last 15 years, we’ve seen a change. No longer can Washington, DC, count on a sizable majority of the US public cheering on American boys and girls to go overseas to kill and be killed. Starting with Obama’s surge in Afghanistan, through the wars in Libya and Syria, and now with the proxy war in Ukraine and the ethnic cleansing in Gaza, both Democratic and Republican administrations bent on war are limited by an American public increasingly set against war. There is no longer enthusiasm, let alone a benefit of the doubt, given to war-making by a large part of the American public, despite the best attempts of the legacy corporate media.
Antiwar.com has been at the vanguard of this shift in public understanding of war and militarism.
The breadth and depth of Antiwar.com’s news and commentary outdo those of any similar resource I know of. That’s why many former colleagues of mine still in the military and government read Antiwar.com every day. It is indispensable, not just for those of us in the anti-war community, but also for anyone who wants a well-balanced and informed understanding of the world.
We still have a long way to go in our fight against war and militarism. While the ability of the US to put troops on the ground has been severely constrained by a public informed because of the likes of Antiwar.com, we are still confronted with the great horrors of proxy wars, the ever-present danger of nuclear annihilation, and an economy hollowed out by a one trillion dollar a year military-industrial complex.
It is through a public that understands the reality of war, its true costs and consequences, that we will put an end to US war-making and militarism. We are seeing this in younger generations. Unique in its mission and purpose, Antiwar.com is at the forefront of this change in the public perception of war. What it provides for our community is irreplaceable. It is invaluable to me, and I believe it is likely the same for you.
Please donate today to Antiwar.com.
Matthew Hoh
USMC 1998-2008
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