War is a messy and typically unpopular endeavor. Over the years, Americans have grown to

distrust the government and how it conducts war. Fifty-five years ago, the Pentagon

papers revealed that it was explicit U.S.

policy to mislead citizens on the war in Vietnam, which incidentally, like this thing in Iran,

was never officially referred to as a war. It was a so-called police action. And because Americans

were misled, the American people did not know of the escalating offenses or the

widening fronts of that war. When the press began reporting more and more from the conflict

zone and Vietnam became the first war to practically air on American televisions, the tide turned.

As the years went by, presidents got smarter about trying to convince Americans about the

value of military interventions abroad. In 1999, you may remember this, Bill Clinton spoke to the nation

as NATO dropped bombs on Serbian forces in Kosovo to prevent the ethnic cleansing of Kosovo

that decision was divisive, but the message was clear, quote, do our interests in Kosovo Albanians. That decision was divisive, but the message was clear,

quote, do our interests in Kosovo justify the dangers to our armed forces? I've thought long and

hard about that question. I am convinced that the dangers of acting are far outweighed by the dangers

of not acting, end quote. When the U.S. was preparing to invade Iraq, then Secretary of State Colin Powell gave a famous

speech to the United Nations in February 2003, establishing the case for war, claiming Saddam Hussein

was developing weapons of mass destruction.

That wasn't true.

No such weapons program existed, but at the time, the justification worked for the American people, or at least some of the American people.

A month after that speech, a Gallup poll showed 72% of Americans were in favor of war against Iraq.

I don't think any presidential administration has gotten an A-plus on war messaging, perhaps with

the exception of the days immediately following the attacks of 9-11, but what the American people are

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