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Most voters want a ceasefire, but few in Congress support one
(substackcdn.com)
^Alt text for screen readers: Most voters want a ceasefire, but hardly anyone in Congress supports one. This chart shows the percent in favor of a ceasefire in Gaza. Among Democratic voters, 80 percent; House Democrats, 8 percent. Republican voters, 56 percent; House Republicans, 0 percent. All voters, 66 percent; all House members, 4 percent. Data comes from House Resolution 786 and an October 20, 2023 poll from Data for Progress. More at stephensemler.substack.com.
Thank you!
Just wanted to say though that it's a bit unfair to compare Iraq to this. Iraq wasn't fueled by raw emotion and rage. It was a lot more calculated since it was (framed as) a preventive measure. How the US acted the first month of Afghanistan is far more apples to apples. And from my research the US did draw immediate criticism for their bombings. And keep in mind that Afganistan is far less densly populated compared to Gaza.
"The war, launched by the United States as "Operation Enduring Freedom" in 2001, began with an initial air campaign that almost immediately prompted concerns over the number of Afghan civilians being killed. "
The number is 2300 dead civilians in 2001, and since the operation began in October thats 2300 in three months. If we extrapolate that to a full year that pace marks the most intense period of civilian deaths by a wide margin. Which matches my assumption that the opening actions, when fueled by intense emotion, leads to a disregard of civilians life. As an aside, those opening months about the same amount of civilians died as the total amount US servicemen in Afghanistan for the whole 20 year war (2300 vs 2400).
I agree, but a key difference is simply the fact that Gazans aren't allowed to leave, and power/water/food was cut before evacuations. A ground invasion in that context has to be understood with that heightened responsibility towards civilians.
As for the Afghanistan war, I think that rural versus dense urban settlement is also fundamentally different, and difficult to compare. Most of the controversy around civilian deaths in Afghanistan focus on mistargeted aerial bombardment, which I agree matches the initial operations in Gaza. But as the shift turns over to ground forces, Fallujah is probably the comparison I think matches most closely.