http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040410/ap_on_re_us/iraq_in_a_word_4Americans Voice Confusion on Iraq Events
1 hour, 9 minutes ago
By CHELSEA J. CARTER, AP National Writer
Angry. Sad. Frustrated. After a week of harrowing headlines and video clips from Iraq (news - web sites), these were words Americans used to try to boil down their confused feelings.
Reinforcements, some demanded. Pull out, others said. Some uttered a prayer, some muttered a curse.
Sitting at a Kansas City lunch counter with a cup of coffee and a newspaper bearing a picture of a wounded Marine being carried off by a comrade, 79-year-old Lynn May thought about the flareup of fighting and gave a one-word reaction: "Anger."
News stories reported more than 40 soldiers and Marines dead in a week. That followed the slaying March 31 in Fallujah of four U.S. civilians, whose corpses were mutilated and dragged through the streets by a mob. "Cities Erupt Across Iraq" blared a typical headline in May's paper.
He grumbled as he spoke of his own experience, first as a World War II veteran — three years and seven months — and more recently watching a nephew deploy to the Middle East.
"I'll tell you what. I didn't like that war and I don't like this one," said the retired truck driver. "But when they shoot, you have to shoot back, I guess."
May said his nephew has been deployed for almost a year and missed the birth of his first child.
"They aren't doing anything but killin' them boys over there! We don't have the world or the U.N.'s support," he said. "Why are we there?"
Thousands of miles away, Antonio Acevedo also drew on personal experience as he searched for words to describe his feeling as American troops battle insurgents: Among them was "necessary."
Acevedo, 45, of Twentynine Palms, Calif., home of one of the nation's largest Marine bases, has a son-in-law, Angel Vega, deployed with the Marines in Iraq. He said Vega, 22, has been in Iraq for two months following a six-month stint there last year.
Acevedo, who works at a car dealership, said his daughter talks with Vega almost daily, and he tells her it's a job he has to complete.
Acevedo agreed. "We need to finish what we started."
Some Americans say the war flareup and the feelings it stirs have led to either arguments or avoidance of the topic.
"Everybody has opinions," said Jeff Gest, 30, of Bronxville, N.Y., as he stuffed quarters into a slot machine in Las Vegas. "My wife, she just says we should get out. I tell her it's not that easy."
With unrest in many parts of Iraq, added Gest, who works for a software company, "It's going to take a lot of hard work to get us out of it."
Patrick Coughlin, 19, of Grants Pass, Ore., has gotten into arguments with people opposed to the war.
"Shush shush," friends have told the part-time college student who said the recent events make him feel proud.
"I am very proud of the people going overseas and dying for the cause," he said.
Similarly, for Richard Hake, 59, the events of the past week have not changed his mind.
"If anything," said the former machine operator from Wimer, Ore., "they have reinforced my belief that we should be there and instituting a proper government."
These days Hake, who also served in the Air Force and has a son in the Army, finds himself defending President Bush (news - web sites), who "had the fortitude to take this action."
Polls suggest the recent unrest is affecting some Americans' attitudes.
A survey by the Pew Research Center released April 5, as the insurgent uprising escalated, found 6-in-10 Americans believe the United States made the right decision to use military force in Iraq. But views of some aspects of the U.S. mission were changing.
Should U.S. forces stay in Iraq? In January, 63 percent of those surveyed by Pew supported keeping troops there until a stable government is established. Now, the survey said just 50 percent favor it.
An Associated Press-Ipsos poll released Friday found 49 percent said military action in Iraq increased the threat of terrorism around the world, while 28 percent said it has decreased the threat. The number of people who saw the threat increasing grew slightly from Monday through Wednesday, a time when television news was showing the sharply increasing violence in Iraq.
The television has been tuned to CNN at Connie's Mini Mart, a small convenience store in Morgantown, W.Va., and owner Connie Negri said she is among those whose opinion has been swayed by recent developments.
Her one-word reaction was "sad — sad that there's so many being killed."
"At the beginning, I felt like we were trying to protect ourselves. I did think it was a good idea," said Negri, 85. "But now I think we should get out. It just tears me up when I see those kids coming back or getting killed."
Tony Chapman of Irving, Texas, has gone the opposite way as the fighting has flared: He said he didn't like the war but now feels the United States cannot pull out.
"I hope that positive things do come from it," said the 32-year-old optometrist. "Even though maybe I didn't agree with going into it and all that, I hope we'll change it."
"Just stay with it, and hopefully change will take place."
Still, Chapman said he's "troubled" now.
John Tracy, 39, of Portland, Maine, used the word "necessary" to describe U.S. involvement, even in the face of the new unrest.
"We need to be fighting those folks over there," said Tracy, 39, a ferry captain.
"Iraqis are driving cars, they're protesting in the streets. They're doing what we take for granted. I don't think people understand — they used to get shot for that."
In Albany, Ga., barber Marty Ford keeps the television in his shop tuned to Fox news so customers can get the latest from Iraq.
"Time," is a word he emphasizes.
"It's only been a year. We got rid of that government and things are on the mend. It just takes time," said Ford, 46.
In Las Vegas, Hope Menendez was less patient. Asked for one word to sum up her feelings now, she used a profanity.
Menendez, 43, said the war is a frequent topic among her fellow maids at the Treasure Island hotel and casino. "We talk about it all day," she said.
She cried when she heard that bodies of American civilians had been dragged through the streets in Fallujah, some of them strung from a bridge.
"Can you imagine a mother turning the TV on and seeing that," said Menendez.
"I pray every day for them. Send them home."
Many struggled to answer the question: What should we do now? Most said it's a balancing act — balancing their personal feelings with the practicalities.
A mural dedicated to the soldiers and Marines in Iraq covers the side of Michael Collins' computer business in Twentynine Palms, Calif.
Collins, a former Marine himself, believes the Marines have a job to do, whether they agree with the mission or not.
"My heart hurts for every young Marine that dies. It's like losing my own son," he said. "But it is the nature of the beast."
Though the recent combat deaths hurt, Collins, 52, said U.S. troops should remain in Iraq and finish the job they started.
"It might as well be another Vietnam if we just send our troops home," he said.
Across the country, out for a stroll at Harvard Yard, in Cambridge, Mass., freelance writer Ari Herzog stopped at a sidewalk newsstand. Headlines screamed: "Wide Fighting in Iraq," "Marines Take Hit," and "Day of Death."
Herzog had no words, just a sigh.
"What will solve it?" he murmured, half to himself. "I have more questions than answers."
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