Steve Fainaru of The Washington Post does some "man on the street" interviews with young male voters and finds them questioning the meaning, the purpose and the likelihood of success of the war in Iraq.
Carlos Perez is a 20-year-old former firefighter from Long Island, N.Y. He said he supported the war at first because, after the attacks of Sept. 11, "To be honest, I just wanted to take revenge."
But now he has doubts:
"How do I put this? … First of all, this is a whole different thing. We're supposed to be looking for al-Qaida. They're the ones who are supposedly responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks. This has no connection at all to Sept. 11 …"
Edward Elston, 22, of Hackettstown, N.J., isn't optimistic about the war: "I don't think anything is going to get better; I think it's going to get a lot worse. It's going to be like a Palestinian-type deal. … We're never going to leave."
Jonathan Snyder, 22, of Gettysburg, Pa., agrees: "Pretty much I think they just diverted the war on terrorism. I agree with the Afghanistan war and all the Sept. 11 stuff, but it feels like they left the bigger war over there … it seems like we're not even close to catching frigging bin Laden."
Fainaru met this cross-section of young, college-age Americans at Camp Iskandariyah, 30 miles southwest of Baghdad. The three men quoted above are all lance corporals in the U.S. Marines.
Read the entire article. The Marines' candor, gallows humor, pessimism and hope deserves to be heard.
Fainaru wanted to hear the Marines' honest thoughts, but didn't want to get them in trouble. He asked Cpl. Brandon Autin of New Iberia, La., if he was worried about speaking so candidly.
"We don't give a crap," Autin said. "What are they going to do, send us to Iraq?"
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