Actions Speak Louder than Words

Civitas, 4 December 2007

Slowly, slowly, I sense the beginnings of a great historic sea-change in public opinion at home and abroad concerning the wisdom of President Bush’s decision in 2003 to go to war in Iraq. Initially, his decision was greeted with very widespread condemnation both here and abroad, condemnation that grew louder as any suspected WMD failed to show up.
Recently, however, public outrage at that decision and at the US’s continued military presence in Iraq has begun to subside. It has subsided with the growing calm in that country the Petraeus surge has brought, combined with increasing hostility among Iraqis and their increasing success in defeating foreign Al Qaeda fighters in their country. Slowly, former outrage at Bush’s decision to go to war is giving way to a silent reassessment of the action.
continued on the Centre for Social Cohesion blog.