Posted on 06/28/2005 8:14:44 AM PDT by GPBurdell
By ESTES THOMPSON, Associated Press Writer 26 minutes ago
In the year since President Bush and U.S. allies returned official sovereignty to Iraq, life in the community dominated by one of the Army's largest installations has changed little.
Soldiers from Fort Bragg have continued to march into Iraq. And they continue to die.
In the past year, 100 North Carolina-based troops have died in the war, trailing only the toll of 180 from California, according to an Associated Press analysis.
As President Bush plans to come here to make a major, nationally televised policy speech Tuesday night, the mounting casualties and insurgent violence have started to test the public patience for the war, even in a place where signs along the streets boast steadfast support of the troops.
On one such street off base in Fayetteville, 26-year-old Carrie Dimmick said it's about time the United States got its soldiers out of Iraq.
"We told them if they established a government we would back off," she said. "They established a government, but we're still there. I feel like the war is doing more harm than good."
Like many people in this area, 40-year-old day-care center operator Tommy Jones said he initially believed the war was a successful response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
"Now, it seems like we've been there too long," said Jones, who was a Marine 20 years ago. "There have been too many casualties."
A new statewide poll released Tuesday shows increasing doubt in military-friendly North Carolina over whether the war is worthwhile.
Forty-two percent of 600 active voters questioned Friday through Sunday agreed the war has been worth it, but 49 percent say it has not, the poll conducted for The News & Observer of Raleigh and WRAL-TV found. The survey by Research 2000 had a sampling error margin of plus and minus 4 percentage points. In January 2004, the survey found 58 percent of North Carolina voters saying the war was worthwhile.
Similarly, the latest AP-Ipsos national poll found public doubts about the war reaching a high point — with more than half saying that invading Iraq was a mistake.
But among those in the military here, it was hard to find anyone who questioned the troops' resolve.
About 52,000 members of the military are stationed at Bragg and adjacent Pope Air Force Base, and some 14,700 are fighting in Iraq, including Lt. Gen. John Vines, the base commander who leads the multinational troops in Iraq.
North Carolina also has sent thousands of Marines from Camp Lejeune and air crews from two Air Force bases.
"I think we're doing the right thing," said 38-year-old Air Force Tech Sgt. Tim Holmes, who has served in Iraq. "From the people I've met in Iraq, they want their freedom. You see the attacks on the news, but what you don't see is people trying to establish their businesses back, shaking your hand, waving."
Civilian truck driver Rickey LeBlanc, 28, echoed the support for Bush's policies: "You can't go over there and say `Saddam's gone. Here's your country. Have a nice day.'"
"You don't have people there who know how to run a government," LeBlanc said as he entered City Hall to pay a tax bill. "You don't want someone like Saddam to get back in power."
Right behind him was John Warren, a 21-year-old carpet factory worker from nearby Raeford, who said too many people had died in a war that he believes has also helped degrade the American economy.
"There's going to be a lot of lonely people here," Warren said.
Pfc. Richard Gunther, 35, of the 82nd Airborne Division, said it's understandable that some civilians feel that way because he believes they get skewed information from a media that focuses too heavily on insurgent attacks.
Bush probably will "tell us we're doing good things over there and that we need to focus on the good things instead of the bad things the media tells us," Gunther said.
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On the Net:
Fort Bragg: http://www.bragg.army.mil
A recent poll of the America people found that most people, well over half, thing the media is anti-American. Isn't it time the anti-American press leave this country forever?
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