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Media and Public Opinion

The impact of 9/11 and the nationalizing sentiment that came with it was a heavy influence on the support of American-initiated invasion and in public support for the president. In a poll published in October 2002, days after President George W. Bush issued a public address on the possibility of invasion, surveyors broke down 10 findings on public opinion. The survey showed that at around this time a majority were still in support of invasion but this support was arguably waning. Support was divided along party lines, with a majority of Republicans in support and a majority of Democrats opposed. President Bush was pushing the message that the United States had attempted all diplomatic methods and was left with no other choice, but only around 46% of the public bought into that narrative, with 49% wanting to see more diplomatic efforts before an invasion took place. Further requisites for stronger public support included an assurance that casualties would be minimized and that the U.N. backed the invasion, which the public later observed was not the case.

In the months leading up to the Iraq War and the abandoning of the resolution, anti-war protests and rhetoric gained momentum. On February 15, 2003, protests emerged in around 650 cities globally with estimates of somewhere between 6 to 11 million participants in the largest standing global protest to ever take place. Opinions in response to the decision to go to war remained polarized, but most Americans express their preference for a diplomatic solution over the invasion. In polls conducted by major media outlets, the justifications by Iraq war supporters were broken down. More Americans, in a 2-1 ratio, supported the idea of invasion if it was on the principle of removing Saddam Hussein from power, and 60% of those with this view were ready to see this invasion take place within weeks. This view was expressed shortly before the draft was suspended and the invasion actually occurred. Public opinion on the war before the invasion also heavily hinged on the UN’s response to the United States–British–Spanish Draft Resolution on Iraq. As of March 16, 2003, a day before the abandonment of the resolution, those who were previously in support of invasion would drop to 54% if the UN Security Council rejected the resolution for military action. That number dropped even lower, to 47%, if President Bush would not seek a final Security Council vote before taking military action. Anti-war sentiment was somewhat pervasive among civilians before the war and correlated to one’s placement on the political spectrum, but was increasingly more dominant across party lines in the later years when it became clear that the war progressed long past its expected timeline and the more people believed the costs were outweighing the benefits.

Iraqi Response

Protests in Iraq sprung up shortly after the inception of the war and occasionally caused violent exchanges with the United States military. On April 28th, 2003 United States soldiers fired on Iraqi protesters in Baghdad. 13 people were killed and 75 wounded. Two days later, U.S. soldiers fired on a group protesting earlier shootings in Falluja.