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Old 11-04-04, 10:15 AM   #1
JackSpratts
 
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Default Among Military Families, Questions About Bush



FORT CAMPELL, Ky., April 8 — The billboard across from the huge Army post here reads patriotism, pure and simple: "We Support Our Troops, Our President."

But talk to members of military families in the parking lot next door, and the emotions are a good deal more complex. Samie Drown, 28, voted for George W. Bush in 2000, and she was stoic and supportive when her husband, a member of the Army's elite 101st Airborne Division, was secretly shipped off to Iraq with less than a week's notice last year. Mrs. Drown took care of their four young children as the 101st led United States troops into Baghdad.

But now, with the occupation dragging on and casualties mounting week by week, she says she feels her views shifting. And not just about the war, but about the president who sent her husband to Iraq.

"This has completely changed my view of the administration," said Mrs. Drown, wearing an American flag T-shirt and sunglasses. "My husband is a soldier and his job is to fight for freedom. But after so many months and so many deaths, no one has shown us any weapons of mass destruction or given us an explanation.

"So a lot of military wives are now asking: `Why? Why did we go to Iraq?' The administration talked a strong story, but a lot of us are kicking our butts about how we voted last time around. Now we're leaning the other way."

She is not certain how she will vote in this year's presidential contest, though right now she says she would not vote for Mr. Bush. "I am watching very closely and waiting to see how things turn out."

As the conflict in Iraq deepens beyond some prior predictions, the military voting block could become a serious domestic casualty for the Bush administration.

Certainly there are many members of the military who still support Mr. Bush whole-heartedly. "I don't think we should have been there as long as we have, but I think President Bush did the right thing sending us over there and I will vote for him again," said Catherine Acevedo, 25, whose husband did a tour in Iraq and who is a former soldier herself.

Still, it was clear at Fort Campbell, based on more than three dozen interviews here this week, that the Republican Party will have to work harder this year to keep the votes of military families, a group who at other times could be counted as Republican stalwarts.

Polls of the military are few and tend to be unreliable since pollsters have only limited access to military bases, and many military personnel are scattered overseas. A recent Washington Post/CBS Poll found that military personnel were still 2-to-1 Republican, but a CBS News survey found that 40 to 48 percent of people from "military families" would vote for Senator John Kerry, said Peter Feaver, a professor of political science at Duke University who studies military-civilian relations.

Various studies in the past have found that overall, military personnel and their families vote at least 2-to-1 Republican; in some subsets, like elite officers, the ratio is as high as 9 to 1.

But that backbone of support can no longer be taken for granted, experts say. And the large number of military personnel in swing states like West Virginia, Florida and New Mexico means that small shifts in military voting could prove decisive in the national election.

"Iraq has put great strain on the forces and looks a good deal more ambiguous than it did a year ago, and that has spawned a lot of disgruntled comments," Professor Feaver said. "That is probably not enough to give Kerry an edge outright, but it does eat into the Republicans' natural advantage."

Professor Feaver said that discontent tended to be even greater among short-term recruits and even more among reservists, who never expected be called to war for such a long period.

"The president is on probation with military voters," he said.

This ambivalence seems particularly startling to hear at Fort Campbell, a huge base that straddles the Tennessee-Kentucky border, where the ideas of God, country and service permeate the air like oxygen. Flags, churches and soldiers in fatigues are more numerous than civilians on the main drag. Nearly every store and billboard on Fort Campbell Boulevard sports a sign paying homage to the troops or God or country, and there seems to be little difference among those concepts.

A Verizon advertisement proclaims: "Thank you 101st Airborne, for allowing us all to speak freely." On a U.S. Bank: "Thank you Fort Campbell." On Mugsy's Coffee Shop is a message to returning troops: "Welcome Home. Try Charbucks Dark Roast." In the parking lot of the Dollar General convenience store: "Victory USA, God is With Us."

The 101st Airborne based here has been a mainstay of American forces in Iraq, a company of dedicated soldiers.

But even in this world of patriots committed to the hardships of military life, the deepening conflict has produced a sense of exasperation and exhaustion.

Still, many say they continue to support the president even if they do not like how the war has played out for them. "Everybody here is feeling like it's enough already and we're scared because we think now we may need to go back; we're asking, `Why, why, why us?' " said Tina Johnson, 22, whose husband spent six months in Iraq with the 101st last year. "We say `grrrrrr' about it, but we are behind George Bush. We understand that it was necessary to go."

Two weeks ago President Bush made a visit here to thank the soldiers and to bestow medals. Some soldiers said they were buoyed by the attention. But many relatives said it was not enough to win their vote.

Brittany Wood, 19, whose stepfather has spent most of the past 18 months in Iraq, said she was a Bush supporter a year ago. Though she still "loves the President, since he's serving his country," she said she would vote for Mr. Kerry this fall.

"I was glad we were doing this because we need to help other countries fight for freedom, but now lots of people feel there's been a cover-up and it is a lie and we were not told the real reasons for being in Iraq," Ms. Wood said. "That is making a lot of soldiers and their families think about voting. And for the first time they're thinking about voting Democratic."

Part of the ambivalence about the war and the election is driven by the personal hardship endured by families here, as parents and spouses are far away. Ms. Wood, a university student, helps her grandmother run an on-base day care center. "Now you have kids growing up without mothers," she said.

Such feelings, many say, were greatly inflamed by the length of the conflict. They have also been exacerbated by the failure to find unconventional weapons in Iraq and by the rising number of deaths, particularly grisly ones, in recent weeks.

Near the base here, soldiers themselves refused to discuss the war publicly. One newly minted mortarman, who refused to give his name, said he thought the president was doing a fantastic job and that the United States would triumph since it had "the strongest Army in the world." Another soldier, a sandy-haired man in civilian clothes, said, "I just got back two weeks ago and I'm not prepared to talk about it."

Many wives said their husbands would continue to serve and to support Mr. Bush because they viewed it as their duty.

On both sides of the issue, the tension was clear, with voters chafing in response to questions about the recent deaths: "Don't ask me; it's a total mess that should have been done a long time ago," said Mike Snapp, who has many cousins in Iraq. "It hasn't accomplished anything except messing up families."

Of Mr. Bush, he said, "It will sure lose him votes around here."

Elisabeth Rosenthal

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/11/po...gn/11MILI.html
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Old 17-04-04, 11:36 AM   #2
adonai
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Buoyed by success on the battlefield, most Americans now express support for an expansive U.S. role in the Middle East, with a clear majority backing the war in Iraq and half endorsing military action against Iran if it continues to develop nuclear weapons, according to a new Los Angeles Times poll.

The survey found Americans experiencing the traditional rally-around-the-flag effect common when troops are first sent into battle: optimism about the country's direction and support for President Bush both soared.

More than three-fourths of Americans -- including two-thirds of liberals and 70% of Democrats -- now say they support the decision to go to war. And more than four-fifths of these war supporters say they still will back the military action even if allied forces don't find evidence of weapons of mass destruction.

Bush's overall job approval rating jumped to 68%, the highest level since last summer, and three-fourths of those polled said they trust him to make the right decisions on Iraq.
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