DES MOINES, Iowa — The specter of U.S. military action against Syria and further intervention in the Muslim world is generating troubled and conflicting emotions throughout America. DES MOINES, Iowa — The specter of U.S. military action against Syria and
DES MOINES, Iowa — The specter of U.S. military action against Syria and further intervention in the Muslim world is generating troubled and conflicting emotions throughout America.
People cite misgivings about their country’s role as “world policeman.” They express moral outrage at atrocities in a faraway nation, tempered by dismay about trying to decide who’s good and who’s bad in a sectarian slaughter. There’s a deep ambivalence about how to use American military power for good without committing the United States to another intractable war.
Those sentiments are reflected in a series of interviews conducted Friday by The Associated Press across the country and borne out in recent polling.
In town after town, Americans weary of war after a dozen years of it are expressing unease, concern, fear and often resignation.
Some adamantly oppose any U.S. action against Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government, even though the Obama administration says he used chemical weapons to kill 1,429 people, including more than 400 children.
