Date: Fri, 9 Aug 2002 15:59:58 UT
From: bstoleelection@fastmail.fm ("Mr.Liberal II")
Subject: [azpeace] Fwd: .. voice4change.org ~ changing hearts and minds
To: azpeace@yahoogroups.com
Reply-To: azpeace@yahoogroups.com
> Backing Bush All the Way, Up to but Not Into Iraq
>
> By MICHAEL JANOFSKY
>
>
> SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Aug. 2 - A lifelong
> Republican, Tom Meaker worked on Barry
> Goldwater's presidential campaign in
> 1964, served as a Marine officer in
> Vietnam and now owns a small printing
> company. His vote helped George W. Bush
> carry Arizona in 2000.
>
> But ask Mr. Meaker about the Bush
> administration's not-so-veiled hints of
> plans to invade Iraq and overthrow Saddam
> Hussein, and party loyalty evaporates in
> the afternoon heat.
>
> "How many countries are there in the
> world?" Mr. Meaker said without waiting
> for an answer. "How many dictators are
> there? How many terrible places are
> there? That's the problem. We pick and
> choose our evils. There are so many
> places to go, so why are we going to
> commit ourselves to this one?"
>
> This may be solid Bush country, an
> upscale Phoenix suburb where the favorite
> flavor of Republican is conservative and
> independents lean to theright. But these
> days, the president's popularity comes
> with an asterisk that could portend huge
> political risks for an administration
> convinced that another military action
> against Iraq is necessary and worthwhile.
>
> Two dozen interviews over two days here
> found some people favoring strike
> against Mr. Hussein to prevent him from
> using weapons of mass destruction against
> the United States and its allies.
>
> But many more argued against an American
> offensive. Democrats and political
> independents interviewed were nearly
> unanimous in their opposition to an
> invasion, and most Republicans felt the
> same way. People interviewed also faulted
> the administration for failing to develop
> a rationale for mounting an attack
> against a country the president has said
> is part of "an axis of evil."
>
> Like Mr. Meaker, Cindy Morrow, manager of
> a shoe store here, said she was not
> convinced that attacking Iraq would do
> much to calm the Middle East or eradicate
> terrorism. She also expressed fear that a
> war with Iraq could widen anti-American
> sentiment and incite further attacks
> against the United States.
>
> "To me, it's really scary," said Ms.
> Morrow, a Republican. "War really opens
> up a can of worms for us. You don't know
> where it will go next, whether it could
> lead to a third world war or what. My son
> is 13, my daughter is 8. It worries me to
> think about what's ahead for them. I
> don't know how you solve these things,
> but there have to be other ways than war,
> fighting and all this craziness."
>
> Others said they believed that the
> administration was forging ahead with
> efforts to depose Mr. Hussein because the
> first Bush administration failed to do so
> in 1991.
>
> "I've got to believe that George Bush,
> like everybody else, is the sum of a lot
> of parts," Mr. Meaker said of the current
> president. "He is his father's son, and
> like any son, he wants to make his dad
> proud. Sept. 11 gave him the excuse to
> focus on something."
>
> Joe Ficklin, a Republican who was
> visiting from Houston, said that while he
> would consider supporting an attack, the
> administration had yet to make a
> compelling case for any military action.
>
> Mr. Ficklin, a sales manager, said he
> worried that Mr. Bush might proceed with
> an invasion without "credible evidence"
> that Mr. Hussein was intending to use his
> arsenal of weapons against the United
> States and its allies. He also expressed
> concern that the administration would act
> unilaterally, without coalition partners
> from Europe and Asia.
>
> "For the administration just to say they
> have weapons capable of mass destruction,
> that is not enough," Mr. Ficklin said.
> "We need to be convinced either that
> Iraqis directly supported the Al Qaeda
> network or that they intend to use their
> weapons of mass destruction against us.
> Maybe we have the intelligence reports
> that officials will not or cannot
> divulge, but they are going to have to
> tell the public that there is a direct
> threat against us, within our own
> borders, and not against this embassy or
> that embassy."
>
> Tim Lindner, a retired program manager
> for I.B.M. living in Scottsdale, as also
> troubled by the lack of a strong case
> against Mr. Hussein. Like many people
> interviewed, he questioned whether the
> administration was focused on Mr. Hussein
> at the expense of other threats. While
> some of those interviewed wondered why
> the administration had not taken a harder
> line with Saudi Arabia, where many of the
> September hijackers came from, Mr.
> Lindner, a Republican, used another ruler
> to make his case.
>
> "How different is he than the guy in
> Libya?" said Mr. Lindner of Col. Muammar
> el-Qaddafi, whose country was implicated
> n the bombing of a jetliner over
> Lockerbie, Scotland, 14 years ago. "He's
> a known agitator in the world community.
> We've tolerated him and still do. What I
> don't understand is, at what point do you
> cross the line?"
>
> Mr. Lindner was sitting in a coffee shop
> with a former colleague from .B.M., Jim
> Garadis, a Republican from San Jose,
> Calif., who said he was not convinced
> that the United States should invade Iraq
> either.
>
> "What we need is James Bond to go in
> there and get more information," Mr.
> Garadis said. "Once we have more
> informatio, then we can decide what to
> do. How can you act with misinformation
> or no information?"
>
> Monica Pereira, a high school teacher,
> said she doubted that moderate forces
> would rise to power if Mr. Hussein were
> to fall.
>
> "It's better to deal with the devil you
> know than one you don't know," Ms.
> Pereira said. "We don't know anything
> about the others."
>
> While several people said they would back
> administration plans if more information
> convinced them the cause was just, only
> one expressed unconditional support for
> military action.
>
> "We should have done this a long time
> ago," said Jan Phares, manager of a
> jewelry and fine arts shop and a
> Republican. "I don't want another 9/11,
> and he's very capable of doing that. I
> don't think he'd stop for a second if he
> thought he could. If we had finished the
> job in Iraq in the beginning, I don't
> think there would have been a 9/11."
>
> Sipping iced tea in a cafe this morning,
> Tracy Zeiss, a restaurant owner, came to
> the same conclusion as her friend
> Patricia Giordano, an elementary school
> teacher, but from a different
> perspective. Ms. eiss is a Democrat; Ms.
> Giordano, a Republican.
>
> "Absolutely not, it's a bad idea," Ms.
> Zeiss said of military action. "We had a
> chance in 1991. We didn't finish it, but
> let's move on. We have other things to
> do."
>
> Ms. Giordano, who recently moved to
> Scottsdale from Rutherford, N.J., agreed.
>
> "We have a million other things to think
> about," Ms. Giordano said. "Why stir this
> up again? Besides, no matter what we do,
> nothing is going to change. I don't know
> what the solution is, but we can't just
> bomb places and think that's going to
> take care of everything."
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