Despite promises that the war in Iraq will make the United States safer from terrorism, residents of the city most affected by terrorism are far less enthusiastic for the war than other Americans. And the more personally a New Yorker was affected, the weaker the impulse seems to be for avenging the more than 2,800 lives lost on Sept. 11, 2001.
A poll released this week showed that just after the conflict began, New Yorkers became more supportive of the war and President Bush's handling of the conflict. Still, even as about 70 percent of all Americans back the war, just 47 percent of New Yorkers support it, while 49 percent oppose it.
Many New Yorkers with direct ties to the Sept. 11 attacks say their painful experiences helped form antiwar opinions.
At the Manhattan march that drew Kanuri last week, protesters from the gentrified neighborhoods closest to the trade center site displayed signs reading, "Ground Zero parents against the war" and "Ground Zero kids against the war."
We need Junto Boy, Steven Saunders, to explain the psychological reasons behind this paradox. My best guess is that they are afraid a war will make them a bigger target.
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