The veterans' take on the war in Iraq

Here is something I found in my old files. It's an old piece I wrote for my high school newspaper as a senior about veterans and the Iraq war. It's certainly dated, but it may be interesting to read about their thoughts then and to compare them with some of those today.

The day is fairly warm when I set out one Saturday into the Healdsburg Plaza. It was bustling full of yuppies, and I was thrilled at the thought of meeting veterans who traveled to the wine country from all over the nation.

My high school newspaper has featured the opinions of students and teachers on the war in Iraq and the Presidential candidates. One voice we haven't heard, however, is one of the most essential: that of the American veteran. For the upcoming election and for Veteran's Day on November 11th, I wanted to interview a few people who served our country in the past to get their take on war and the election.

I started by walking Center Street, not sure how to begin my project. I spotted an older man sitting on a bench in front of the Downtown Bakery, a small brown bag beside him and his hand upon the top of a white cane. Tentatively, I approached him and asked, "Excuse me, are you a veteran?" I wasn't quite sure what kind of response I would receive.

To my surprise, however, the man immediately began telling me all about his years in the service. I quickly learned that his name was Thomas, he was a Democrat from Lynn, Massachusetts, and that he had been in the Air Force during World War II. "I went to North Africa for two years, then was involved in the invasion for Southern France. I was there when they captured Mussolini and they put him on trial." He was so enthusiastic that I was encouraged to ask him the rest of my questions. "What do you think about the current war in Iraq?"

"I don't like it," he answered in a second. "I'm going to vote for Kerry, because Bush is taking us in the wrong direction. I think all veterans agree."

"What about the possibility of a draft?" I asked. Thomas sighed, "Well, I already have a grandson in the Navy," and left it at that.

I asked him what he'll do for Veteran's Day, and he responded simply, "Nothing, actually. Watch the parade. And put up my flag."

"And is there anything else you'd like to say?" I added. A stern look came upon his face, and he pointed a finger in the air. "I'd like to say one thing. This war is a big mistake. They didn't have enough help when they went in [Iraq]. There wasn't any evidence, no weapons of mass destruction. It's a waste." He sat back against the bench. "WWII was different." I thanked Thomas for his time and left him alone again.

Encouraged by the success of my first interview, I set off to find a conservative view. The next man I came to wore large sunglasses and was walking past Rainsong Shoes. I asked if he was a veteran. He nodded, and when I asked him if I could ask him some questions, he bit his lip. "We're actually in kind of a hurry," he said, gesturing to his shopping wife. She turned around. "What?"

"She's asking veterans about their take on the war," he responded.

"Well, you're a veteran!" she answered as she disappeared into a shop. Shrugging, he consented to answering my questions if I made them short.

I figured out he was Don from the Midwest, and that he wasn't actually in a war but served in the military after WWII. Don said he's "disappointed about the war," but he will vote for "Bush, because of what he says he does and will do. It's not so much for Bush as it is against Kerry, because [Kerry] always goes with what the people say and want at the time." About the draft, he replied, "I don't think there'll be a draft." His Veteran's Day plans are to "spend time with my family. Satisfied with his terse but valid answers, I let him go to shop.

Walking along Matheson Street, I saw two men sitting on a bench, relaxed. "Are either of you two veterans?" I asked. One of them, the younger of them, shook his head, but the other nodded without a word, a smile on his face. He was Ray, from Charlotte, North Carolina. He served in the military "right after Korea. I was in the Army."

"Are you a Republican?" I asked. He nodded again.

I asked him for his thoughts on the war. He turned to the man beside him, then answered, "I think the war is silly. It might not be a mistake, but it still seems silly to me." However, like the last conservative I asked, he said he's "voting for Bush, not Kerry." He laughed, adding, "To tell the truth, I think [Kerry] is kind of a scumbag. You can quote me on that!"

About the draft, Ray said, "I hope that they don't have to have a draft." He shrugged. "I mean, it's ok, but still." For Veteran's Day, he plans on doing "very little."

My inquiries completed, I asked if I could take his picture. He nodded once more, and I pulled my digital camera out of my purse. As I put it up to my eyes, an expression of astonishment appeared on his face. "Wow, that's a nifty camera you got there!" he commented, noting it's small size.

I nodded. "Yeah, my mom smoked, so she got it for free by turning in the proofs of purchase from the cigarette boxes." Ray made a face. "Smoked? That's so bad for you!" The younger man, who was of no relation to Ray but merely shared the bench with him, chimed in warmly, "Hey, tobacco's what's keeping you Carolinans in business!" They both started laughing as I headed off for one more interview.

Finally, I came across Jim, a middle-aged man of Sonoma Country who had served in the Merchant Marines during Vietnam and a second time in the Construction Batallion of the Navy/Marine corps. He was particularly talkative on the subjects I presented to him, to my delight.

I asked Jim what he thought about the war in Iraq. There was barely a second before he answered, "I think it was ill advised, you know? It wasn't really fully thought out. I mean, the UN experts were in Iraq and were never really able to finish up in there before Bush came in. He had no real game plan for after the war, after he defeated Saddam Hussein." He stuttered once in a while as he spoke. "When you're bombing, you're devastating the land and the people, and you own it. What I mean by that is that you have to go fix it. There's a lot of pros and cons, and no doub Hussein was a bad man, but I think we should have stayed in Afghanistan to get bin Laden. I think it was all an oil grab."

About the draft, he replied, "I hope to God it doesn't come to it. I don't agree with the draft. Bush is going to have to tax the people for it, not in the sense of money, but in manpower. But there's already a backdoor draft. People are put into active duty and there's no end in sight. They're even pulling people out of Korea. I don't see any other way out."

"I'm voting for John Kerry and John Edwards. Why?" He laughed. "It's because I don't trust the President. I think he's lied... I think that's on the backburner by now. I mean, America is hated more than ever before. [Bush] has gone and upset the Muslim world, but now we're also hated by everyone. Kerry has a plan. It won't happen overnight, but he can get the UN and put us in a new direction. Bush won't really be specific. His administration say everything is fine, but it's not. It's not." He paused, and then started right up again. "Domestically, medical costs have skyrocketed. People can't go to Canada for drugs because some of Bush's biggest supporters are pharmaceutical companies. Also, there aren't enough jobs because he's outsourced everything. I've never felt this bad about my country in my life," he says without stopping for breath. "I don't think America can take four more yaers of this. We're at a crossroads."

"So," I begin as I finish up his last answer, "are you liberal?"

He answered emphatically in the negative. "No, I'm not a Democrat or a Republican. I'm a moderate."

When I asked him what he'll do for Veteran's Day, he responded pensively, "I'll probably think of my comrades who died, and about the war. What I saw wasn't pretty. I wasn't on the front lines, but I saw the devastation and the families..." He took another moment. "My dad was a veteran too."

"And is there anything else you'd like to say?" I asked. Jim said, "Please vote! Even if you don't agree with me, please exercise your right as an American citizen and vote! If there's anything I don't like, it's when people complain and don't vote about it. People saw in the last election that how important each vote is, by how close it was between Gore and Bush."