Is this the first time?

[The Hitman]

I haven't been around for many wars, but is the upcoming Iraq conflict (or possibility of it, anyway) the first time that war has been publicly debated and protested against before it has even started?

I knwo Vietnam was protested against heavily, but that was during the war, not before to my knowledge. It just seems very unusual that this debate has raged on for weeks with no action, and people power might actually persuade the politicians to not go to war.

How times have changed!

The Hitman

 

[Captain Random]

From memory, there was a fair amount of debate before the Gulf War. There were also diplomatic attempts to get the Iraqis out of Kuwait right up until the actual war, and a fair few protests - "No blood for oil!" etc.

 

[SOTS]

Originally posted by The Hitman
I haven't been around for many wars, but is the upcoming Iraq conflict (or possibility of it, anyway) the first time that war has been publicly debated and protested against before it has even started?

If you look at the history of WW2, the necessity for war with Hitler was debated, probably from his first actions of militerising the German DMZ (was it the Ruhr area?) with growing intensity until he invaded Poland.

Or from a US perspective, it was debated until they finally joined the fight in 1942.

SOTS

 

[The Hitman]

Discussion is one thing. Massive worldwide protests are another. In the United States before '42, the government didn't want to get involved in conflict. They were drawn into it by the Japs. At the moment, it seems that Bush is eager to go to war, and his people don't want to follow. Same in Britain. Same here.

Would it be the first time that nations would be fighting a war that the people don't want, before the actual war?

The Hitman

 

[Pessimistic]

If we are drawing paralells to WW2 then best to keep Aussie troops here.

The trouble in WW2 was that when aussie came under attack all the troops had already been sent to europe or were twiddling their thumbs in changi.

 

[ian_rocks]

There was a long build-up to the Falklands war, almost a generation's worth of build-up