| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"Harry Hope" |
| Date: |
25 Apr 2004 05:00:19 PM |
| Object: |
Gung-ho mood is gone at Camp Pendleton |
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 4/25/04:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04116/305556.stm
Gung-ho mood is gone at Camp Pendleton
Town next to big Marine base left reeling by Iraq violence
Sunday, April 25, 2004
By Rene Sanchez, The Washington Post
OCEANSIDE, Calif. --
A chill is spreading through this military town, and it's not coming
from the breeze blowing in off the beach.
On quiet downtown streets where palm trees are laced with yellow
ribbons, in bars and barbershops where televisions flicker with news
of more casualties and extended combat tours, the gung-ho mood that
many residents were in a year ago is giving way to torment or dismay.
Oceanside, the next-door neighbor of Camp Pendleton, home of the 1st
Marine Expeditionary Force, is reeling from the new wave of violence
and chaos unfolding across Iraq.
About 14,000 Marines from the base here are taking part in the fierce
fighting, and more than two dozen of them have been killed in action
this month.
It is a place trying its best to remain resolute.
Businesses along the coastal highway are flying red Marine flags or
have taped the Marine motto "Semper Fi" to their windows.
But even ardent supporters of the war are beginning to express
cynicism or confusion about whether its goals will be achieved, and at
what cost.
"You can't start something, take some casualties, then get out," said
Robert Alexander, who owns a military goods store called G.I. Joe's.
"We've got to finish the job there."
But Alexander hastened to add that the expectations he once had for
creating a democracy in place of Saddam Hussein's dictatorial rule are
fading.
"If we turn it over to them as a democracy and they wind up just
electing an ayatollah," he said, "so be it."
Andy Dillavou expressed similar worries as he puffed a cigar along
Oceanside's main street while on a midday break from construction
work.
He spoke fondly of President Bush, calling him "Ol' GW" at one point,
but conceded that he was not impressed by the prime-time news
conference that the president held earlier this month.
"He didn't look good," Dillavou said.
"And if we don't see more stability in Iraq soon, I think he's going
to have a hard time holding on to his job."
Dillavou said he had no doubt last year that going to war was the
right thing to do.
"It was a necessary evil," he said.
"We couldn't keep sitting back and doing nothing."
Now, he fears the conflict could last years and may fall well short of
an ideal success.
"I think we're in for a long haul," Dillavou said.
"I think the casualties are going to get worse, and I think building a
democracy is going to be hard. Their way of life is just so different
from ours."
The spike in U.S. troop losses this month appears to be stirring the
same anxiety nationwide.
A majority of Americans still say that invading Iraq was the right
decision, but growing numbers are telling pollsters they have new
doubts about the war.
Polls published last weekend by Newsweek and CNN/Time showed that 51
percent of Americans now disapprove of Bush's handling of Iraq.
War always brings hardship and loss to Oceanside.
When most of the Marines at Camp Pendleton leave for lengthy
deployments overseas, many families struggle and the town economy
teeters.
Some downtown merchants have gone out of business in the past year,
and others have had to scale back their hours or lay off some
employees just to stay afloat.
Still, before the invasion, many residents here spoke confidently that
the United States would win a decisive victory in Iraq and said they
were prepared to make sacrifices for the cause.
But with no clear end in sight to the fighting, they sound more
frustrated and conflicted.
"I thought the trouble over there would be declining, but it's just
escalating," said Sammy Rosiles, a barber and a Vietnam veteran.
"Don't get me wrong -- I like Bush. And hell, yes, I supported this.
I'm not a protester. But it is beginning to look like Vietnam."
Around the corner, Charles Faithful was working behind the counter of
his family's surf shop.
Like many other merchants here, he had no customers and plenty of time
to talk about a war that he said is weighing ever more heavily on his
mind.
"I am still somewhat supportive, but the casualties we're taking now
are just absurd," Faithful said.
"I don't think we can pull out, but what I'm getting scared about is
that I don't think the situation might improve in the next few years.
It could take a decade."
Melissa Forester never supported the war, "and it's turning out worse
than I even thought," she said.
She knows many of the Pendleton Marines because she cuts their hair in
a shop on Oceanside's main drag.
At least she used to, before they left for combat.
"What's happening is so sad," Forester said as she sat outside the
empty shop, thumbing through classified ads in search of another job.
"Before they go over there, some of these guys come in and tell me,
'Give me the meanest-looking haircut you can give me.' Then when they
come back, you can tell that some of them are just shell-shocked from
what they experienced. I think they really believe in what they're
doing, but the situation over there is so tough on them."
Skip Hoskins, a homebuilder in Oceanside, knows that pressure.
A tattoo on his right bicep notes his military service: Vietnam
1967-68.
"I hate to say it, but this is starting to feel like the same scenario
we were in then," Hoskins said as he left Oceanside's City Hall.
"It's a hard one over there, isn't it? I remember last year when
everyone said that all of Saddam's Republican Guard had just laid down
their arms -- well, now it looks like they're picking them up and
using them on us. We really may still be at the beginning of what we
have to deal with. And I'm worried it could turn out to be an
impossible situation for our guys."
Hoskins looked down the block.
A funeral procession was leaving an old church.
Young women walked out wiping their eyes, and young men wore grim
stares.
"Probably another Marine," he said.
________________________________________________________
People are starting to wake up to the fact that there's a mental
retard in the White House.
Harry
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| User: "Fredric L. Rice" |
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| Title: Re: Gung-ho mood is gone at Camp Pendleton |
26 Apr 2004 10:27:05 PM |
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Harry Hope <rivrvu@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 4/25/04:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04116/305556.stm
Gung-ho mood is gone at Camp Pendleton
Town next to big Marine base left reeling by Iraq violence
Awww. The murdering Nazis didn't have things all their own way. How sad.
---
Anti-War / Anti-Fascism protest: http://www.linkline.com/personal/frice/awp.htm
"The stations that are showing Americans intentionally killing women
and children are not legitimate news sources. That is propaganda,
and that is lies." -- Senior military spokesman Mark Kimmitt, Nazi
"...since when is fighting invaders in your own country terrorism?" - Tempest
.
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| User: "Dana whatsittoya" |
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| Title: Re: Gung-ho mood is gone at Camp Pendleton |
26 Apr 2004 11:52:17 PM |
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"Fredric L. Rice" <FredR@SkepticTank.REMOVE.ORG> wrote in message
news:108rki3jnvffs67@corp.supernews.com...
Harry Hope <rivrvu@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 4/25/04:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04116/305556.stm
Gung-ho mood is gone at Camp Pendleton
Town next to big Marine base left reeling by Iraq violence
Awww. The murdering Nazis didn't have things all their own way. How sad.
Typical for a leftist.
---
Anti-War / Anti-Fascism protest:
http://www.linkline.com/personal/frice/awp.htm
"The stations that are showing Americans intentionally killing women
and children are not legitimate news sources. That is propaganda,
and that is lies." -- Senior military spokesman Mark Kimmitt, Nazi
"...since when is fighting invaders in your own country terrorism?" -
Tempest
.
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