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• Mar 25, 2008 8:19 am US/Mountain
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  Expert: Public Can Affect War Policy In Long Run

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Expert: Public Can Affect War Policy In Long Run

DENVER (CBS4) ― One international studies expert believes the public's opinion on wars can have different effects on the way presidents make decisions depending on the time frame. CBS4's Alan Gionet asked the expert a Good Question: How does public opinion affect how we wage war?

"Probably not a whole lot in the short run," said Jonathan Adelman, a professor at the University of Denver Graduate School of International Studies. "A whole lot in the long run."

"Some might argue if you put 500,000 troops in [Iraq], then you could really make some difference," Gionet asserted.

"You could, but there's really no support for that," Adelman said.

"So the public does have influence on the war," Gionet asked.

"Absolutely, in the long run," Adelman responded.

No matter who the next president is, he believes that person will want some kind of change.

"But new presidents, as the studies have shown, want to make their mark in history," Adelman said. "They want to separate themselves from the past, even for a republican candidate."

Adelman also said opinion on the economy will have to change.

"This country, we're going through so much right now, with the economy I think that once there's a change, it'll probably go totally different," he said.

"It is important because the next president is going to ask the obvious question. Should we be spending $140 billion a year in this war or should we be cutting it back, especially if the majority of the American people don't want it."

According to the Pew Institute, 72 percent of Americans believed the war in Iraq was the right decision when it started. That number is now 38 percent. Fifty-four percent now say it was the wrong decision.

Adelman said he believes a drawdown in Iraq will mean a U.S. force will be left behind in Iraq's desert where the troops will be safer.

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