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Opposing viewpoints of Iraq war splitting the Valley
Monday, March 15, 2004 -
Every Friday night for a year, Steve Fine and Lauren Schmitt have stood across the street from each other in Studio City, Fine waving a sign protesting the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Schmitt waving a sign supporting it. During civil moments, they debate. Other times, they shout invectives at each other over the traffic at Laurel Canyon and Ventura boulevards.
Friday marks the one-year anniversary of the start of the Iraq war a campaign launched by U.S.-led forces seeking to topple Saddam Hussein and his Baathist regime and destroy the weapons of mass destruction he was thought to have stockpiled. While some at home offered their support for those who rose to the call of duty, others questioned the rationale behind military effort.
On the eve of the anniversary, both Fine and Schmitt claim that history has proven them right.
"We feel vindicated," said Fine, 55, a writer from North Hollywood, one of the organizers of the anti-war protests.
"But who wants to be right on this? We didn't want Americans dying. We didn't want thousands of Iraqis being killed. We didn't want the economy stressed to the breaking point."
Schmitt of Canoga Park points across the street to the anti-war demonstrators.
"We're here because we don't want the troops to think they represent what America thinks if they're here, we're here," she said.
"I think the weapons of mass destruction are there. Saddam himself is a formidable weapon. And instead of being happy that they weren't found, they should be wondering where the hell those weapons went."
Like Fine and Schmitt, nearly everyone in the region has an opinion about the war in Iraq and all that's followed.
Nationally, public approval of President Bush's handling of the war has slipped from a high of 75 percent in a Washington Post-ABC News poll last April to 46 percent in that same poll earlier this month. A majority of United States residents, according to the poll, now disapprove of Bush's handling of the war.
Saddam Hussein, whose brutal rule terrorized Iraqis for decades, has been driven from his palaces and plucked from a hole in the ground to face trial. Efforts to establish a democratic system of rule in the country are under way, despite enormous political obstacles and the efforts of terrorists to make stability and democracy impossible.
But even the Bush administration concedes the weapons of mass destruction are nowhere to be found and evidence of Iraqi ties to terrorists scarce. To date, more than 550 U.S. servicemen are dead, and thousands of Iraqi civilians have been killed.
But if you ask local men and women who fought in Iraq if it was worth it, the answer is clear.
"It would be easy to be bitter, but I'm not," said Jeremy Stafford, 31, a Los Angeles Police Department officer from Simi Valley and a Marine Reserve staff sergeant who did some of the hardest of the fighting in Iraq. "I agree with the mission. Anyone who puts their head in the sand and says that (Hussein) was not a threat, they're just crazy.
"I see this as part of an overall strategic initiative. We've had nothing with problems in that region from our so-called allies. We need a foothold there. That area will be trouble for the next 20 years, and this may have been the opening round in World War III."
Not everyone remains quite as gung-ho.
"At first, I was really motivated to go," said Lance Cpl. Joseph Garcia, 21, a Mission College student who did six months in Iraq. "And when I was there I learned to evaluate and appreciate freedom. There were houses made out of straw. We would see people, little children coming out of them, waving American flags. It made me proud to be an American.
"Then the morale, the motivation started to go. After certain experiences, you start asking yourself, what is really going on here?"
On the streets of the Valley, opinions remain split.
"My opinions haven't changed. (Sept. 11) demonstrated that we can't afford to wait for people to attack us," said Schmitt, whose husband is in the Navy and overseas, and who founded Citizens for Homeland Defense shortly before the invasion started. Her group coordinates its activities with a loosely knit organization of other pro-war, pro-Bush groups; other associations, including the Jewish Defense League, have joined their demonstrations.
Even some former and current military members are starting to ask questions they weren't asking a year ago.
"I was for it," said Charles Payne, 28, of North Hollywood, who served in the Middle East for two years with the Navy. "I knew a little more about what was going on there. But now, I'm having some mixed emotions.
"Even though I knew this was no Desert Storm, that this would take a long time, you have to ask, what are the issues here? What are we trying to accomplish?"
Staff Writer Rachel Uranga contributed to this story.
Michael Gougis, (818) 713-3762 michael.gougis@dailynews.com