With every new development in the war with Iraq, Russell Terry feels he takes a troubling step back into history. "It's like what happened in Vietnam," said Terry, a Yucaipa resident who is chief executive officer of the Iraq War Veterans Organization, and its sister organization that supports military personnel who served in Afghanistan. "Politics are at play and it's taken out on the troops.
" Terry's organization avoids taking political stances, but that doesn't stop him from deriding the effect of politics on the nation's war-weary military. Particularly vexing for Terry is the Democrats' decision to place language in its budget proposal to get troops out of Iraq in 2008 - an effort that President George W. Bush vetoed Tuesday.
"They are robbing the money from the troops and the veterans so that they can placate their own wants and needs," he said. "It's totally wrong." Tim Prince, a San Bernardino lawyer who is eyeing the 41st Congressional seat held by Rep.
Jerry Lewis, R-Redlands, called it a brave stand by the Democrat-controlled Congress. "The Democrats should pass it over and over again," Prince said, explaining that it would show Bush "that there is no alternative. The only way to deal with a bully is to stand up to him over and over again.
" For Pat Galvin, the grandmother of Army Spc. Cierra Syndergaard who is stationed in Iraq, getting her arms around the issue has been a struggle. Bush says he supports the troops, but with the way the war has been run, Galvin has doubts.
And while Democrats say they are behind the troops, they are taking steps to keep money from the military's effort in Iraq. Further muddling matters, Galvin said, is the people the troops are fighting for don't seem to even want America's fighting force to be there. "I can see helping the Iraqis but they have to be willing to help themselves," said Galvin, who like her granddaughter is from San Bernardino.
"They sure aren't trying hard enough." Lewis, the congressman, praised the president for his veto of the bill. "We have been anticipating this action for weeks, and I applaud the president for rejecting the idea that politicians would place limits on the actions of our generals in the field," Lewis said.
"Now it is time for Congress to pass this bill without meddling in military strategy and get these vitally needed funds to our troops." Like his congressional colleague, Rep. David Dreier, R-Glendora, voted against the bill that passed mainly along party lines.
"We need to come together in a bipartisan way to ensure our troops have what they need," Dreier said on the cable news program, "Hardball." "What's happening now in Iraq is the General Petraeus plan. As he has said, al-Qaida is making Iraq a central front in the war on terror.
He believes (the surge is) going to work, and has said we will need to wait until September for true results." Lois Powers of Vallejo said she believed a timeline "would only prepare our enemies for retaliation." "I believe President Bush has been backed into a corner; there's too much pork in this bill," said Powers, 69.
"After this bill has been vetoed, perhaps we can get another bill that funds our troops without having to buy votes to pass it." Others expressed a wish that Bush would have let the bill become law. Alvin Smith of Rialto said he disagreed with the veto completely because the United States should "never have become involved in a war in the first place.
" "We've lost a lot of lives for no reason other than oil," Smith said. "I was in the military for 22 years and I hoped this country would never see another Vietnam, and this looks like it might be worse.
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