Doubts surface even in heartland of Marine Corps

[kskiska]

IRAQ WAR ENTHUSIASM QUESTIONED BY MANY AROUND CAMP PENDLETON

OCEANSIDE - Leo Diaz, a young Marine from Texas based here at Camp Pendleton, went to Iraq full of faith in the president who sent him. Today, he is burdened by the horror of what he saw and shocked at what he calls President Bush's ``frat boy'' mentality in starting the war.

``I show up. I'm proud. I'm looking forward to do my part,'' said Diaz, 22, whose father, uncle and grandfather served in the military. ``Turns out, we find no weapons of mass destruction. People hurt, killed.''

Diaz voted for Bush in 2000. But now he plans to vote for Democrat John Kerry for president.

Interviews with a dozen people, not all of them voters, in the communities near Camp Pendleton found opinion was still in favor of the war, 2-to-1. But many, like Diaz, express deep doubts about the reason Bush waged it and about the president himself.

Diaz spoke on a day when the grisly news from Iraq hung heavily over Camp Pendleton, which sent 14,000 Marines to Iraq in recent weeks. Nine Americans -- four civilian contractors and five soldiers -- were killed Wednesday in and around Al-Fallujah, a stronghold of support for former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein that the Marines patrol. Also, news arrived Wednesday that another Pendleton alum, Lance Cpl. William Wiscowiche, 20, of Victorville died in Iraq in hostile fire.

more…
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/8337363.htm

[stevedeshazer]

1. That's really depressing

Another passage reads,

"I think we did the world a favor," said Jim Francis, 61, whose son is an officer in the Marines on his second tour of duty in Iraq. Yet Francis, an independent voter, holds the president responsible for the faulty intelligence that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction.

"As far as Bush goes, I know I wouldn't vote for him again."

_______________________________________________________________________

Sounds like Mr. Francis is torn in belief but resolute in not trusting Bush with another four years.

[rfkrocks]

2. Bush can't shine these guys shoes

Let alone be commander-in-chief-the military is the arm of the president - the buck for starting this pointless war ends with Bushco

[DustMolecule]

3. Bush* and co. do not understand what you so truthfully wrote....

...it's because of their 'illness' (sssshhhh - not many want to talk about it, but it's true!).

[malachibk]

4. ok, i'm taking the bait...

what illness?

[DustMolecule]

9. ehm, corrupt, immoral, total lack of common sense & logic......

....geez, grandma/grandpa used to lock those kinda kids down into the cellar. They didn't know words like 'criminal pathology' back then...they just knew it was wrong and would lock 'em up' so they wouldn't harm themselves or anyone else!

[JoFerret]

5. Lives changed forever

``I can honestly say, my little workshop, we came back, none of us were the same.''

[mike1963]

6. My best friend in high school, 1957-1959 was a virtual genius. I'm not

exaggerating. He never managed to escape the infinitesimally small 'clique' that was his assignment. I was a part of his, but was also into the group of "cool" kids - being at the same time a contender for Magna Cum Laude and a very serious iconoclast. Funny how that works...I actually taught my own Physics class for a week (along with another friend who was also already versed in the subject.)

But my good friend John was perceived as a total wuss. And that didn't really grab my attention much at the time. He was a physical wimp, as it was seen at the time, but I never noticed nor cared. It was only after several years later that I discovered he was so offended by the perceptions that he decided to enlist in the Marine Corps. When he called me up and told me, I was floored - this guy who probably had never done a push-up in his life was becoming a jarhead? But it was true...he did and he made the grade.

But in context, his action isn't all that odd - he was vociferously
and from puberty-age, a bigot. It's really that simple. He hated black people, Jews and probably a few other factions I don't recall at this late date. He liked jazz music, as did I, and we connected at that level.

We talk occasionally. Probably once a year. I called him up last week to say hello. I guess for the first time, we actually talked politics. To shorten a long story, he's losing faith in the Republicans he's supported for the last 3 decades.

Something is better than nothing, I suppose.

[Skittles]

11. I have often thought

that being a republican was a respectable way of being a bigot or racist. I simply find that undercurrent in the republicans I know, no matter how subtle it may be.

[JoFerret]

7. Broken US troops face bigger enemy at home

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1184960,00.html

<<Meanwhile, 15,000 soldiers who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan have filed for disability claims. Some 12,000 have sought medical treatment from facilities run by the department of veterans affairs. About 4,600 have sought psychological counselling. That demand threatens to overwhelm a veterans' healthcare system that has received no new funding since the Iraq war began. >>

Incredible numbers of maimed lives and suffering families.

[Skittles]

8. it's gotta be hard

to be in the military and know your own government betrayed you. And I think a lot of folk are still in extreme denial.

[DulceDecorum]

10. Its going to get harder

Serenity now,
can only take you so far.

[Bandit]

13. Remember it is driven into them " You are not Paid to Think"

They are pretty much brainwashed right from the gitgo that they are never to Question Authority. 90% don't. When they are told to jump the only acceptable response is "How High?" It is driven into them that to question will cost them their life. It is the "Way of Life" in the Military.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

12. Welcome to the Camp Pendleton of the Vietnam War.