Proponents of the Domino Theory convinced the public to support military intervention in Vietnam. But the fall of Vietnam did not lead to a communist sweep of Southeast Asia. In the end, more than 58,000 American soldiers were lost in a conflict based on a faulty premise.
Iraq War boosters cast a similar spell over the traumatized, post-Sept. 11th public. Through unrelenting propaganda about the “imminent threat” posed by Saddam Hussein and his supposed weapons of mass destruction, on the eve of invasion, 66% of Americans erroneously believed that Hussein had aided the Sept. 11 terrorists. But there were no WMDs. And 4,431 U.S. soldiers were lost in that conflict. War operations cost $815 billion. The catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan, ceding that country to the terrorist-favoring Taliban after years of war and 2,459 American dead, has similarly driven Americans into…
