The War Comes Home
Seething anger--and looming new doubts
Beyond that, White House officials are concerned about a broader erosion of support for the Iraq war from military families. Senior administration strategists say that if relatives of slain or active-duty soldiers turn against the conflict en masse, wider public opinion could quickly follow. So far, however, polls suggest that most military families still support the war, according to White House insiders. But if a pattern emerged of military families turning against Bush's policies in Iraq, says a senior Bush adviser, "that would be problematic."
That's one of the reasons the White House seemed so rattled by Sheehan, 48, of Vacaville, Calif., whose son Casey died in Iraq. Sheehan began a vigil August 6 on the side of the road about 2 miles outside Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, and eventually attracted more than 100 followers. Last week, the group moved to a larger area adjacent to a Secret Service checkpoint, just a mile from the ranch. Two top administration officials met with Sheehan shortly after she arrived, but the president has so far declined to do so--a strategy that has drawn criticism even from Republicans, like Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Vietnam veteran.
Sheehan's protest seems to have galvanized the beginnings of a more public antiwar movement. Last week, some 1,500 candlelight vigils in suport of Sheehan were held nationwide by Americans opposing the war; the effort was coordinated by the liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org.
Many Americans, of course, are still supportive of the Iraq effort, but there's little denying a creeping sense of restlessness about the course of the war. The community of Brook Park, Ohio, which lost 13 Marine reservists from the 3rd Battalion, 25th Regiment, in Iraq earlier this month, provides an illuminating snapshot. The last of the dead were buried last week, but people continue to visit the makeshift memorial set up at the fence surrounding the headquarters of the reserve unit in this blue-collar suburb of Cleveland. Most of the sentiments at the memorial seem to support the war--teddy bears, flags, and handwritten signs of thanks--but some fissures do appear. One button pinned to the fence says "Support Our Troops. Bring them home."
John Kubit, 47, supported the war from the start, and the losses suffered by the Brook Park unit have only strengthened his resolve. "I've been for the cause of defeating terror," he says, "and their deaths just underscore the point." He recently brought his son Joe, 15, to the memorial. "I wanted him to see what people are doing for the men and women who died for us," says Kubit.
But doubts are gathering. "I feel like we have no business being there," said Pete Inithar, a 79-year-old World War II Navy vet who visited the memorial last week. "It's a shame. Just seeing this makes me very emotional." He accused Bush of equating support for the war with patriotism. "If you say something against him and his war, they call you unpatriotic," Inithar said. "That's not right."
Another Ohioan who has turned against the war is Paul Schroeder, father of 23-year-old Lance Cpl. Edward "Augie" Schroeder, who was killed in a roadside bombing near Haditha on August 3. "Mr. President," Schroeder said, "your refusal to support our troops at adequate levels needed to do the job required in Iraq has cost our son's life and the lives of so many others . . . . Now you have to deal with us and a growing number of Americans who think you have created a mess that you do not have the capacity to end."
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