David Brooks: Even I Have Learned The Lessons Of The Iraq War And The Lessons Of Imperial Overreach
PBS NEWSHOUR: David Brooks of The Atlantic and Jonathan Capehart of MS NOW join Amna Nawaz to discuss the week in politics, including the U.S. war on Iran and President Trump’s decision to launch those attacks and the jobs report adding to economic uncertainty in the U.S.
AMNA NAWAZ, PBS NEWSHOUR: It feels like the American public has a lot of questions about it as well. This is a look at how the war is resonating back home, according to a few questions from our latest PBS News/NPR/Marist poll. Just 44 percent of Americans support U.S. military action in Iran; 56 oppose it. That includes 66 percent of independents. And just 36 percent of Americans approve of how President Trump is dealing with Iran overall. That is down from 42 percent in January of 2020, when the U.S. assassinated the Iranian general, Qasem Soleimani. So, David, the man who ran on no new foreign wars is up against the public that doesn’t want to see this happen. How does this end? DAVID BROOKS, THE ATLANTIC: Yes, first, I would say the reason we’re at war is because Iran declared war on us 47 years ago. And we have been in a forever war with Iran that has gone up until last week, when they were trying to reconstitute their nuclear weapons. As for the American public, America has learned the lessons that Jonathan mentioned. Even I have learned the lessons of the lessons of the Iraq War and the lessons of imperial overreach. And so it’s good for us that we have learned that lesson. The second thing that causes the low poll ratings for the war is, A, low poll ratings for Donald Trump and distrust in the way the war seems to be run by the civilians, but definitely not the military. But, third, Donald Trump didn’t sell the war. We had a — whether you liked the outcome in the Iraq War debate, we had a yearlong debate before George W. Bush went to war in Iraq. We had nothing. We had a few minutes in the State of the Union that was throwaway. And so, if a president is going to make — spend American treasure and blood he really owes it to the American people to sell them on it. And he did nothing. I’m — it’d be nice to go to Congress, but it’s been decades since Congress declared war on anybody. And that’s for both parties. But he should sell it and explain what the heck he’s doing. And they have not done that, which is why people are so anxious and nervous about it.
