Majority say war is wrong
Published 9:00 pm Saturday, September 25, 2004
A majority of Washington voters believe going to war in Iraq was a mistake.
But Connie Gronning of Marysville is not one of them.
For her, the war on terrorism began 21 years ago when her son was among the 241 soldiers killed in the bombing of a U.S. Marines barracks in Beirut, Lebanon.
She believes the U.S. military must not pull out of Iraq as it pulled out of Lebanon.
“We left Beirut. We always cut and run,” Gronning said.
In a statewide poll commissioned by The Herald, 53 percent of those surveyed said the United States “made a mistake in going to war” in March 2003; 44 percent, including Gronning, called it the “right decision.”
Only 37 percent urged bringing troops home “as soon as possible,” and 61 percent wanted U.S. forces to remain in Iraq until “a stable government is formed.”
“I never thought the war was the right thing,” said Heather Bryant, 31, of Everett, one of those surveyed. She said military action was wrong because no weapons of mass destruction were found and no significant international alliance was built to back U.S. plans.
Leaving now, however, could result in an even bigger mess, she said.
“We need to do a gradual pullout. We need to finish what we started,” she said.
“This Iraq war is a joke,” said another of those surveyed, William Cook, 55, of Monroe. “It is about oil and money. I’d hate to see us pull out, but I don’t know why we’re there.”
The state’s anti-war leaning is weighted heavily by King County, as are voters’ political leanings and presidential choices.
Nearly two-thirds of the voters in the state’s most populous county opposed the war, while those questioned in Snohomish County and the rest of the state were about evenly split on the issue.
Eighty-four percent of self-described Democrats and 87 percent of Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry supporters said going to war was a mistake; 93 percent of Republicans and 86 percent of those backing Bush called it the right decision.
“I think Kerry has a more sensible approach to Iraq,” Bryant said.
Gronning, 59, said she supports Bush “because he has convictions. Those boys in Beirut will have died in vain if Kerry is president and continues our national wishy-washy policy.”
For Randy Wolf, 20, of Silvana, it’s a tough decision. This will be his first timing voting.
“The war is a mistake,” he said. “Now we’re there, and I think President Bush is better to get the job done. I don’t want to, but I would take him over Kerry because he seems more bold and authoritative after 9-11 and al-Qaida and all that bull-crap.”
Reporter Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623 or jcornfield@heraldnet.com.
A poll commissioned by The Herald asks Washington voters their opinions of the just-used state primary election and where they stand on gay marriage.
Voters speak out
Ipsos-Public Affairs of Washington, D.C., conducted the poll for The Herald and three other newspapers. It involved telephoning 406 registered voters statewide Sept. 17-20. The margin of error is 5 percent.
