(NYT-7/15) Even as Loved Ones Fight On, War Doubts Arise

[babylonsister]

Even as Loved Ones Fight On, War Doubts Arise


By IAN URBINA
Published: July 15, 2007

FORT EUSTIS, Va., July 11 — Cpl. April Ponce De Leon describes herself and her husband as “gung-ho marines,” and in two weeks she deploys to Iraq, where her husband has been fighting since March.

Welcome home banners, new and old, hang from the fence of a government housing facility near the Marine base at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.

But she says she stopped believing in the war last month after a telephone conversation with him.

“He started telling me that he doesn’t want me to go and do the things he has been doing,” said Corporal Ponce De Leon, 22, speaking by telephone as she boxed up her belongings in their apartment near Camp Lejeune, N.C.

“He said that ‘we have all decided that it’s time for us to go home.’ I said, ‘You mean go home and rest?’ And he said, ‘I mean go home and not go back.’

“This is from someone who has been training for the past nine years to go to combat and who has spent his whole life wanting to be a marine,” she continued. “That’s when I realized I couldn’t support the war anymore, even though I will follow my orders.”

[spirit of wine]

1. Sounds like August will be a vacation for everyone

When it gets up to 130 degrees and the Iraqi parliament decides not to stick around these are hints and a half anyway. Here is an article that concerns me, and tell me what you think about its veracity. Knowing Bush, anything is likely.

http://www.roadstoiraq.com/2007/05/10/urgent-occupation-forces-are-planning-to-destroy-samara-dam/

[babylonsister]

2. I have no idea of its veracity but did note it was written in May. I wonder,

if they plan on blowing the dam up, what they're waiting for?
Either way, it doesn't sound good.

[swag]

3. Great article. Well worth a read.

The stats on shifting military opinions are astounding.

[swag]

4. A bit more.

Experts cite three causes of eroding morale among military families: longer and multiple deployments, the continued chaos in Baghdad, and the growing death toll — April, May and June were the deadliest three months for American troops since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

Among military members and their immediate families who responded to a national New York Times/CBS News poll in May, two-thirds said things were going badly, compared with just over half, about 53 percent, a year ago. Fewer than half of the families and military members said the United States did the right thing in invading Iraq. A year ago more than half held that view, according to the a similar poll taken last July. The May poll had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 7 percentage points.

[WillyT]

5. K & R !!!

:kick: