Personal Wars
by Christine Pelisek
War, it seems, is one of those things that the more you know about it, the less you want any part of it. With Iraq in the crosshairs, the leading voices to go to war belong to those who have no military experience. More often than not, those against a war with Iraq have served in the military. Here's a list compiled by CHRISTINE PELISEK, with an assist from the New Hampshire Gazette's Chickenhawks database.
BUSH ADMINISTRATION
GEORGE W. BUSH
Title: President
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: Bush signed up for the Texas Air National Guard for six years in May 1969, which allowed him to avoid the Vietnam draft. He became an F-102 pilot in 1970, making his last flight in 1972 when he moved to Alabama to work on a GOP Senate campaign. After returning to Texas the following year, Bush says he performed nonflying duty for the Guard, but during his presidential campaign there were repeated charges that he skipped the last year and a half of his Guard obligation.
DICK CHENEY
Title: Vice President
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: Once mumbled to a reporter that he "had other priorities in the '60s than military service." Cheney received a couple of deferments to avoid service, first because he was a student, then because he was married.
DONALD RUMSFELD
Title: Secretary of Defense
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: Flew jets for the Navy between the Korean and Vietnam Wars but never saw combat.
I. LEWIS "SCOOTER" LIBBY
Title: Cheney's chief of staff and assistant for national security affairs
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: Sat out the Vietnam War at Yale University and Columbia Law School.
ANDREW CARD
Title: White House Chief of Staff
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None
PAUL WOLFOWITZ
Title: Deputy Secretary of Defense
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None. Went to Cornell University and University of Chicago instead.
RICHARD PERLE
Title: Chairs Pentagon's Defense Policy Board; Assistant Secretary of Defense
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: Sat out the Vietnam War at the University of Chicago.
ARI FLEISCHER
Title: White House Press Secretary
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None
TOM RIDGE
Title: Director of the Homeland Security Office
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: In his first year at the Dickinson School of Law, he was drafted into the U.S. Army and served as an infantry staff sergeant in Vietnam, earning the Bronze Star for Valor.
ELLIOTT ABRAMS
Title: Senior Director, National Security Council
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None
KARL ROVE
Title: Senior White House Adviser
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None
JOHN ASHCROFT
Title: Attorney General
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: He received a deferment during the Vietnam War and taught business education at a Missouri college.â
COLIN POWELL
Title: Secretary of State
Stance on Iraq: Anti-war
Military history: Powell served two tours in Vietnam. During the second, he survived a helicopter crash landing, then went back into the smoking wreckage and saved his commanding general and two other soldiers. Powell received two Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star, a Soldier's Medal and the Legion of Merit. In 1973, he took command of a battalion in South Korea. Later that year, he returned to Washington as a staff officer at the Pentagon. His career has encompassed the invasions of Grenada (1983) and Panama (1989), 1991 Gulf War, the 1992-93 engagement in Somalia and the crisis in Bosnia.
RICHARD ARMITAGE
Title: Deputy Secretary of State
Stance on Iraq: Anti-war
Military history: U.S. Naval Academy grad and Vietnam veteran.
ASA HUTCHINSON
Title: Director of the Drug Enforcement Administration
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None
TOMMY THOMPSON
Title: Secretary of Health and Human Services
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: National Guard.
MILITARY
BRENT SCOWCROFT
Title: Retired General and Former National Security Adviser
Stance on Iraq: Anti-war
Military history: Commander in the Gulf War; 29-year military career.
NORMAN SCHWARZKOPF
Title: Retired General
Stance on Iraq: Anti-war
Military history: Schwarzkopf served two combat tours in Vietnam and later was designated the Deputy Commander of the Joint Task Force in charge of U.S. Forces participating in the Grenada student rescue operation. He is most notable as Commander in Chief, United States Central Command, and Commander of Operations of Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
ANTHONY ZINNI
Title: Retired General
Stance on Iraq: Anti-war
Military history: Gulf War logistics chief; later Schwarzkopf's successor at Central Command.
JAMES WEBB
Title: Former Navy Secretary
Stance on Iraq: Anti-war
Military history: Vietnam vet.
SCOTT RITTER
Title: Retired U.S. Marines major; former chief of the weapons inspection teams in Iraq (until he resigned in 1998)
Stance on Iraq: Anti-war
Military history: He saw combat in Iraq during the Gulf War. Former U.S. Marine.
POLITICIANS
JOHN McCAIN
Title: Senator, R-Arizona
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: In 1967, he was shot down over Vietnam and held as a prisoner of war in Hanoi for five and a half years. He retired from the Navy as a captain in 1981. McCain's naval honors include the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying Cross.
TOM DASCHLE
Title: Senate Majority Leader, D-South Dakota
Stance on Iraq: Anti-war
Military history: Vietnam War vet. Served three years as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Air Force Strategic Air Command.
JOHN KERRY
Title: Senator, D-Massachusetts
Stance on Iraq: Anti-war
Military history: Highly decorated Vietnam War vet.â
CYNTHIA McKINNEY
Title: Congresswoman, D-Georgia
Stance on Iraq: Anti-war
Military history: None
JIM JEFFORDS
Title: Senator, I-Vermont
Stance on Iraq: Anti-war
Military history: Served active duty with the U.S. Navy from 1956 to 1959, and retired from the U.S. Naval Reserve as a captain in 1990.
PETE STARK
Title: Congressman, D-California
Stance on Iraq: Anti-war
Military history: Vietnam War vet. Stark served in the U.S. Air Force.
HARRY REID
Title: Assistant Senate Majority Leader; D-Nevada
Stance on Iraq: Anti-war
Military history: None
DENNIS KUCINICH
Title: Congressman, D-Ohio
Stance on Iraq: Anti-war
Military history: None
BARBARA LEE
Title: Congresswoman, D-California
Stance on Iraq: Anti-war
Military history: None
RUSS FEINGOLD
Title: Senator, D-Wisconsin
Stance on Iraq: Anti-war
Military history: None
BOB BARR
Title: Congressman, R-Georgia
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None
PHIL GRAMM
Title: Senator, R-Texas
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: Received a marriage deferment and avoided Vietnam.
TRENT LOTT
Title: Senate Minority Leader, R-Mississippi
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None
DENNIS HASTERT
Title: House Majority Leader, R-Illinois
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None
DICK ARMEY
Title: House Majority Leader, R-Texas
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None
TOM DeLAY
Title: House Majority Whip, R-Texas
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: The most powerful hawk in the House of Representatives. A no-show in Vietnam. He is said to have once complained that he would have served but all the spots were taken up by ethnic minorities.
JOSEPH LIEBERMAN
Title: Senator, D-Connecticut
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None
JEB BUSH
Title: Florida Governor, Republican
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None
OTHERS
BILL CLINTON
Title: Former President
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war. The goal to remove Saddam was adopted during Clinton's reign on the eve of his impeachment vote, though recently he has raised doubts about going after him.
Military history: None, with Vietnam deferment.
DAN QUAYLE
Title: Former Vice President
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None. Served in the National Guard.
GEORGE H. W. BUSH
Title: Former President
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: WWII fighter pilot. â
JAMES BAKER
Title: Former Secretary of State
Stance on Iraq: Anti-war. Warned last week that acting unilaterally against Iraq would be unwise.
Military history: Spent two years of active duty as a lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps in the 1950s.
JACK KEMP
Title: Former Congressman
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None. Played pro football instead.
TOM HAYDEN
Title: Former California state Senator
Stance on Iraq: Anti-war
Military history: None
WAYNE LaPIERRE
Title: Executive vice president of National Rifle Association
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None
BILL O'REILLY
Title: Fox News commentator, "The O'Reilly Factor"
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None
FRANK GAFFNEY
Title: Founder/director of the Center for Security Policy
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None
WILLIAM KRISTOL
Title: Editor of The Weekly Standard
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None
ROBERT KAGAN
Title: Member of Project for a New American Century
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER
Title: Nationally syndicated columnist
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: Missed out because he is Canadian.
GARY BAUER
Title: Christian Right leader
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None
MARTIN PERETZ
Title: The New Republic editor
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None
WILLIAM BENNETT
Title: Former drug czar; co-director of Empower America
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None
GEORGE WILL
Title: Essayist
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None
NEWT GINGRICH
Title: Former House Speaker
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None
RUSH LIMBAUGH
Title: Radio personality
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: Missed Vietnam because of anal cysts.
BRITT HUME
Title: FOX commentator
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None
ALAN KEYES
Title: MSNBC host
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None
JERRY FALWELL
Title: Religious personality
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None
KENNETH STARR
Title: Former independent counsel
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None
ANTONIN SCALIA
Title: U.S. Supreme Court Justice
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None
CLARENCE THOMAS
Title: U.S. Supreme Court Justice
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None
RUDY GIULIANI
Title: Former mayor of New York
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None
SYLVESTER STALLONE
Title: Actor
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None |
