Anti-war Protests Anger U.S. Troops Inside Kuwait

The Detroit News | Tuesday, February 18, 2003 | M.E. Sprengelmeyer

[BOBTHENAILER]

Some see America’s patriotic mood waning.

Campujairi, Kuwait – The peace protesters might as well be marching right under the tank barrels.

U.S. troops amassed in the Kuwaiti desert couldn’t avoid news of anti-war protests that swept the globe over the weekend, and it is making some angry, defensive, fired-up and anxious.

They see scattered news reports of opposition to a possible war against Iraq, but the hardest-hitting bulletins come in phone calls home to worried wives and loved ones, said Sgt. 1st Class Victor Oravec, 41, of Fort Knox, Ky., of the U.S. Army’s 3-7 Cavalry.

“They’re saying, ‘Why are we over here when everyone’s over here saying we shouldn’t be?’” Oravec said.

“They hear it. They bring it up to me, and I squash it by keeping them busy, reminding them why they’re here,” Oravec said, just before leading his tank maintenance unit in an all-night training exercise across the Kuwaiti desert.

Many of the soldiers who might be called to fight against Iraq were too young to remember the emotional protests that marked the end of the Vietnam War. Many had not even been born.

Still, some say they take the anti-war protests personally – questioning the jobs they do and their boss, President Bush.

“They get down,” said Oravec, a veteran of the 1991 war against Iraq. “That’s when I come around, try to get them work to do. That’s the only thing I can think of to keep their minds off home and what their wives are telling them.”

Capt. John Turner, 26, of Colonial Heights, Va., whose father was a med-evac pilot for the Army in Vietnam, said soldiers are not decision-makers and can’t afford to get distracted from their training.

“I’m not in this line of work for political reasons. I didn’t come here to be a politician,” Turner said.

Still, he’s especially angry about opposition at the United Nations from France, a NATO ally.

“How would they feel if it was the Eiffel Tower that got hit into (on Sept. 11)?” he asked.

The troops see a possible war against Iraq as part of the ongoing war on terrorism, as the Bush administration targets alleged weapons of mass destruction that could fall into the hands of terrorists.

Protesters call that an unfounded or unproven claim being used to justify a war to control more of the Middle East’s vast oil reserves.

The “No blood for oil” slogan was used in opposition to the 1991 war, too. But back then, in the war to liberate Kuwait from Iraqi invaders, the protests did not seem as widespread and the troops did not take them so personally, Gulf War veterans said.

“That’s their right to protest as long as they know that’s their opinion, not ours,” said 1st Sgt. Stephen Edgerton, 36, a Gulf War veteran from Blackshear, Ga.

“When you’re younger, you’re a little more eager to go out and pick a fight with somebody,” Edgerton said. “With age, you’re not as quick to jump into things without thinking them out first.”

But for soldiers, he said, the bottom line is simple: “I support my Commander in Chief. That’s my job.”

Pvt. Wesley Carr, 23, of Virginia Beach, Va., said soldiers are the last ones who want to rush into unnecessary wars.

“I can understand why they want to protest, because they don’t want any harm to come to us. But a lot of them don’t understand,” Carr said. “I hope, like everyone else, that it does end peacefully. But if it doesn’t and we have to go to war, we have to think of the safety of the United States and all these people here.”

Privately, some soldiers wonder if the patriotic mood and pro-military spirit in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks has evaporated.

With all its soldiers and high-tech war fighting machines, the U.S. military would not have had all its recent success if the soldiers didn’t get so much support from the public, Edgerton said.

“They don’t have to support what’s happening,” he said, “but at least support the soldiers”

Iraq Update
1st U-2 Mission: Iraq reported the first flight by an American U-2 surveillance plane Monday in support of the U.N. inspection mission, marking another concession by the Baghdad government in hopes of staving off a U.S. –led attack. The flight lasted four hours.

Turkey Delays:
Turkey’s prime minister on Monday ruled out a parliamentary vote to allow tens of thousands of U.S. combat troops on its territory until Turkish and U.S. officials agree on the conditions of the deployment.

[Long Cut]

"What's a skinwaster?"

That would be Long Cut-speak for those bipeds who hate their country enough, and are craven cowards enough, to support through their actions those dictators who would destroy it, in time of armed conflict.

They are on wondrous display at any recent protest march. they would be useful as comic relief, if their purpose was not so bone-deep rotten.

[cgk]

I know you pulled your post, but I still think this is fitting, and clearly represents how most of us here feel:

"War is an ugly thing but not the ugliest of things; the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feelings which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."

-- John Stuart Mill


I've had that quote on my profile since 9/11 and it clearly serves us now.

Mrs Kus

[cgk]

And it especially describes the Hollywood crowd doesn't it?

Mrs Kus

[ALOHA RONNIE]

.."IS it SAFE?".. with an Enemy that is now just around the corner and up our streets..?

.."IS it SAFE?" = HILLARY on Armed Services Committee..

http://www.TheAlamoFILM.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=629

[Warrior Nurse]

To all who shall see these presents greetings knowing that reposing special trust and confidence in the fidelity, valor patriotism of the Warrior Nurse I do appoint him a Lieutenant in the US NAVY

This is what the President says to all the officers of the Military. We are trained professionals something that the peaceniks can't grasp. It is us against them they hate our way of life and they hate our freedoms. I gave my word and took an oath to protect those freedoms just as my father did 50 years before me. So let it be known that I am willing to die for what I believe in. What are the peaceniks willing to die for?

[nutmeg]

I think that at least once a month -- maybe even more often -- the networks should show footage of the towers being hit, the towers collapsing, the Pentagon on fire, the crater in Shanksville, etc., in the middle of "Friends" or "Survivor" or whatever other horseclinton in on prime time network TV.

I agree. I'm absolutely amazed how short many people's memories are. (Horseclinton is a great term to describe prime time network TV!)

[nutmeg]

Please see post #120

[Semi_Fusion]

http://www.right-thinking.com/comments.php?id=P508_0_1_0

[fly_so_free]

If its true that our troops and their families are being harrased by the hippy wanna-be's it needs to be reported to the American people. I don't begrudge the nit-wits their right to protest but: I WANT TO SEE IT COVERED BY THE PRESS IN A FAIR AND BALANCED WAY. I. E. IF THE PEOPLE WHO SPONSORED THE PROTESTS ARE COMMUNISTS AND SOCIALISTS, THE PEOPLE SHOULD BE TOLD THAT. IF SOME OF THE VERMIN TRASHED THE CITIES THEY WERE "PEACEFULLY" PROTESTING IN, THE PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW IT. IF THE SLIME BALLS ARE HARRASSING OUR MILLITARY AND THEIR FAMILIES; THE PRESS NEEDS TO TELL THE PEOPLE. WE AS AMERICANS HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW THE TRUTH ABOUT THESE PROTESTERS, NOT HAVE IT COVERED UP BY A BIASED PRESS CORE ATTEMPTING TO INFLUENCE OUR PEO0PLE BY FALSELY TRYING TO MAKE RADICAL BRAIN DEAD HIPPIES LOOK LIKE THE MAJORITY OF OUR POPULATION.(See my previous post 189 about this)

[BOBTHENAILER]

I hate them. I hate them because they can kill our confidence, corrode our will, poison our history and make us believe we are the base, savage and dismal society they see through their cataracts of failure. These people can kill America.

I've got a group of high school kids that frequently use my Letters to the Editor to refute their idiotic teachers in debates, and they win. My eldest boy is a sophomore at UofM. He has a bunch of conservative pals, but the leftist influence there is pervasive and I constantly feed him articles from here and elsewhere.

One of his best friends waxed an anti-war puke in a large debate on campus the other day.

[Arpege92]

"I can understand why they want to protest, because they don't want any harm to come to us"




I honestly believe it's not the troops they are protesting and marching for. The anger and the continuous rise in anti-Americanism shows only concern for the people of Iraq! I was a baby during Vietnam but these people remind me of the anti-vietnam crowd....which really means....anti-American troops! Don't be surprised if these idiots start spitting on our troops when they come home!

[BOBTHENAILER]

My windows are lined with little American flags that's how I show my support in my home.

Great job, bentfeather. Keep up the good work.

[BOBTHENAILER]

The guys I pinged are regular visitors to the Canteen, men who aren't hesitant about speaking out. They're out there on the front lines of our war on terror, and they know the level of support here in the US.

Thanks for your words of support and know that I will ALWAYS keep the faith, especially for the guys you referred to out on the front lines in the war on terror.

I wish I could do more.

[BOBTHENAILER]

Just ping your peons when you return it to us, King John! :)

It's Baaaaaack.

[Victoria Delsoul]

These "anti-war peaceniks" are scum and traitors.

They sure are! They are Islamic Jihad supporters and accessories in the 9/11 terrorist attack, which make them equally guilty.

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

"It IS getting to be a little like the '60s."

This time around makes me even sicker than the 1st time.
I used to see this type of stuff everyday in downtown Chicago
when I first got out of the service.

"...the same people are behind it"

Yes, the same bunch of traitors.

[sistergoldenhair]

Thanks.
There's some great info here.

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

Thanks for picking up the slack Brother while I have been occupied.