American support has seesawed. Prior to December 2009, more than half of Americans polled opposed the war in Afghanistan. However, public opinion on the war shifted after Obama's December 3 speech at West Point, according to The Washington Post/ABC News Poll. Fifty eight percent of those polled support the increase of troops being sent; the majority polled (55%) oppose a deadline for withdrawal; most (71%) expect troops to remain for many years, and the majority of the 71% support a long war; most (56%) think that the U.S. must win the war in Afghanistan for the war on terrorism to be a success.
What accounts for this sudden shift in national opinion on the war in Afghanistan? At least 2 factors may have conspired to manufacture the consent of the majority of Americans: the persistently positive opinion pieces on the war in major U.S. newspapers and the central role of former top military officers as analysts for major television and cable networks.
A revealing assessment by Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) of the op-ed pages of The New York Times and The Washington Post during the first 10 months of 2009 found that pro-war columns outnumbered anti-war columns by more than 10 to 1 in the Washington Post and 5 to 1 in The New York Times. The news coverage included "the narrow range of elite, inside-Washington opinion" and largely ignored a wider range of public opinion on the war. Those who get their war analysis from television and cable networks are treated to the opinions of retired generals who are presented as civilian specialists on military policy, without disclosure of their military past or of their current business ties to military contractors. The networks have made ex-military war profiteers into poseurs as neutral civilian experts. (9)
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