Veterans tell Bush: 'Gulf war will be worse than Vietnam'; 1000 US

0 Comments | Sunday Herald, The, Mar 16, 2003 | by Neil Mackay

MORE than 1000 US servicemen and women have told President George Bush that they oppose war against Iraq and warned him that any conflict with Saddam Hussein will become another Vietnam.

The American soldiers, sailors and aircrew have written a letter to the President, signed by two vice-admirals, a brigadier-general, 14 colonels and hundreds of other high-ranking officers, asking Bush to meet with the leaders of the anti-war "Veterans for Common Sense" group.

The letter, signed by men and women who fought in the second world war, Korea, Vietnam and the first Gulf war, represents the biggest backlash yet delivered to the Bush administration from the US military. The letter says: "We are patriotic citizens and veterans we feel duty-bound to share with you our serious concerns regarding issues of national security [and] the appropriate use of military strength."

It goes on: "We strongly question the need for a war at this time We are not convinced that coercive containment has failed or that war has become necessary. Our own intelligence agencies have consistently noted both the absence of an imminent threat from Iraq and reliable evidence of co-operation between Iraq and al-Qaeda. Again, we question whether this is the right time and the right war."

The veterans fear that war in Iraq "would likely involve protracted siege warfare, chaotic street-to-street fighting in Baghdad and Iraqi civil conflict. If that occurs, we fear our own nation and Iraq would both suffer casualties not witnessed since Vietnam. We fear the resulting carnage and humanitarian consequences would further devastate Iraqi society and inflame an already volatile Middle East and increase terrorism against US citizens".

It adds: "The scale of the crisis would be so large that the international community would be unable to prevent widespread suffering. For these reasons and more, it remains in our nation's best interest to avoid another war."

One of the key signatories, vice-admiral Ralph Weymouth, said he feared that the Bush administration "wants a military force which no other country or region could rival, and refuses to countenance any challenge to its pre-eminence". Weymouth, a sailor for 35 years, was a navy pilot in the second world war and fought in Korea and Vietnam. He has one of the highest decorations in the US military, the Navy Cross.

"We can't interpret the actions of the government as anything other than an attempt to establish global hegemony," he told the Sunday Herald. "They appear to want to run the world. We are on the wrong path and it frightens me a lot. We are promoting a clash of civilisations."

He says he knows that his views will be met with dismay in Washington DC, but he insists he is an American patriot. "The debate about the war in the US is utterly stifled. We veterans are making our worries public in order to get the public to think, listen and understand," he added.

"Too many people in America are automatically supporting their leaders, and the media is denigrating any form of protest and taking part in a form of self-censorship. I want to publicly oppose this US administration."

He said he viewed the Bush administration's policy of pre-emptive action as "terribly dangerous for the world", adding: "We are a great country, but we are arrogant with the entire world."

Weymouth said war with Iraq would cause "inconceivable problems" in the Islamic world, could create chaos in Israel and Palestine and breed "terrorism without limit". He also said he felt "business interests" were tampering with foreign policy.

Weymouth wants the American government to understand that modern warfare could mean "whole cities being wiped out", adding: "We have super-weapons today, but as our experience in Kosovo, where we bombed the Chinese embassy, shows we really don't know how to use these weapons. I certainly fear for large civilian casualties. We have to remember that in Vietnam the civilian to combatant ratio of casualties was 100 to one. This could well be worse."

Referring to the US-UK special relationship, Weymouth said: "It should be about co-operation. I don't understand why Tony Blair is following this route."

He called on the US government to work with the UN, saying: "The United Nations is the single institution which the world can look to at the moment. It may be imperfect, but it's all we've got. The current administration is trying to strangle it."

Weymouth also said he "doubted" that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.

Charles Sheehan-Miles, who was decorated in the Gulf war after saving four of his comrades from a burning tank and is co-founder of Veterans For Common Sense, said: "No-one has been able to get through to the president. We hope he may listen to military veterans.

"I'm very concerned that we are about to start world war three, but this time we are the aggressors."

One signatory to the letter is Kris Kristofferson, the actor and Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter. He is a former 82 Airborne helicopter pilot.

The full letter and details of the signatories can be found at www.sundayherald.com/list.>

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