US anti-war mood grows as Obama seeks go-ahead

As US President Barack Obama lobbies Congress to back a military strike against Syria, anti-war activists have started organising against the proposal. Groups including the ANSWER coalition were planning a mass demonstration in Washington for Saturday. ANSWER’s national co-ordinator Brian Becker declared Obama had already sensed growing public resistance.

“This forced the administration to step back from imminent bombings,” Becker declared – a reference to Obama’s decision to seek congressional approval before taking action. A poll released by the Pew Research Center found that 48 percent of Americans surveyed oppose conducting military air strikes against Syria in response to reports that the Syrian government used chemical weapons. Only 29 percent said they favoured military action.

The drooping support defied Obama’s public relations blitz. On Tuesday, he sent his top ministers, Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, to the Senate committee on foreign relations. They have said there is clear proof that the regime of Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad had used nerve gas on neighbourhoods controlled by rebels. The opposition to military strikes was prompted by a number of factors, Michael Dimock, the director of the Pew poll, said.

“There’s a lot of scepticism about achieving the stated goals, and there’s intense concern about the backlash a military strike could trigger,” he told dpa. The poll found that 74 percent of Americans believe that a military strike would lead to a backlash against the US and its allies, while 61 percent said it would lead to a long-term military commitment there. Conversely, only 33 percent thought it would be effective in discouraging the use of chemical weapons.

Those concerns helped explain how support for a strike has dropped from that seen in previous polls. In April for instance Americans voiced majority support for US military action against Syria in the event that Al-Assad crossed a red line, set by Obama, by using chemical weapons. The Catholic church in the US has also entered the debate, calling for more negotiations and appealing to its followers. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops supported Pope Francis’ call for Saturday to be a day of international fasting and prayer for peace.

“We are anguished by the terrible suffering of the Syrian people and again affirm the need for dialogue and negotiation,” said New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan and Bishop Richard Pates of Des Moines, Iowa, in a joint statement. The Pew findings were backed by a separate ABC/Washington Post poll which found six in ten Americans opposed unilateral US missile strikes on Syria. Even more – 70 percent – were opposed to the US and its allies supplying weapons to the rebels.

The poll found that opposition to air strikes was constant among both Democrats and Republicans. Women opposed air strikes by a majority of 65 percent compared to 54 percent of men. Opposition was strongest among young adults, with 68 percent of those under 30 saying they were against the military action.

Such scepticism does not surprise Dimock. The poll director says the country is languishing in the “shadow of the wars” in Iraq and Afghanistan, wracked with “doubts that US engagement could be useful.” “We’re certainly in a period of more isolationist sentiment militarily and diplomatically,” he said. Referring to America’s role as an international enforcer, “the public sees it as a lot of cost and risk, and very little payoff.”