US soldiers could go from pawns to kingmakers

Support for bush slips among some in military

After the Abu Ghraib scandal, families of servicemen and women are beginning to question the merits of war in Iraq

By Ashraf Fahim
Special to The Daily Star
Thursday, May 20, 2004


NEW YORK: When Iraq war veteran Paul Rieckoff delivered the Democratic Party's response to President Bush's weekly radio address on May 1 - accusing Bush of mismanaging the war in Iraq, neglecting US troops and refusing to acknowledge his mistakes - he laid bare a growing discontent among a key voting block in this November's presidential election: members of the US Armed Forces and their families.

In a race that is a statistical tie between a wartime president and his Vietnam-veteran challenger, the traditionally conservative armed forces are a key constituency. With ongoing chaos and interminable casualties in Iraq, their support for the Republican incumbent seems to be ebbing, however.

Rieckoff, who served 10 months as a National Guard infantry platoon leader in Baghdad, emphasizes that he speaks only for himself, but he believes such disenchantment is widespread.

"I think I'm the tip of the iceberg," he told The Daily Star. "The men and the women who've come back, many of them are frustrated. Many of them were unhappy with the original rationale for the war, unhappy with the plan for war and how it was executed. ... And many of them were unhappy with the way we were equipped and trained."



more at link:
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=3979

It was about Kerry and talking about why he is silent right now about Iraq, etc. but how some people are trying to get answers out of him, etc. They talk about a newly discharged soldier who was at one of Kerry's town meetings. Soldier talked about how can't get VA benefits, blah, blah and asked something about the war. Kerry answered about the VA issue but avoided the other part of the question. After, the solider expressed to the reporter disappointment about that but in her remarks she said that she just came back from Iraq and 99% of her fellow soldiers feel just like her that this war is not worth it, etc. and they want out...............and I thought to myself, and that means their families are thinking along the same lines..........She was very anti-Bush!!!!!!!!

but I won't stop working