Many County Residents Say Iraq Airstrikes Were Overdue

While they watched missiles strike Iraq on a big-screen TV, the white-haired war veterans sitting around the bar Wednesday afternoon cheered and clinked glasses of scotch.

“Go get ‘em!” hollered Ventura resident Bill Russell, 75, who fought in the South Pacific during World War II. “Let’s just do it already and get it over with.”

President Clinton’s decision to bomb Baghdad won quick approval from the half dozen mostly elderly men gathered at the Veterans of Foreign Wars cantina in Ventura.

Reflecting the opinions of many residents throughout the county, the vets believed the attacks were overdue and not timed to delay Clinton’s impeachment hearings, which had been set to begin today.

Although most people interviewed agreed with the veterans, Ventura County’s congressmen are divided on the motivation of the military action, with the Democrat confident the two issues are not related and the Republican questioning the timing of the bombing.

At the veterans bar on Market Street, however, Bill Hurst, 78, who was a U.S. fighter pilot in England during World War II, said, “The timing makes no difference at all.”

The conservative Republican from Fillmore stressed that the bombing aside, Clinton should be removed from office for lying about his affair with Monica Lewinsky.

At the County Government Center in Ventura, Jazmin Rodriguez, a 20-year-old Moorpark College student, questioned the president’s motives.

“I think it’s kind of suspicious,” she said. “Have you seen the movie, ‘Wag the Dog’? That’s what I was thinking of.”

But Hurst and his fellow vets disagreed that the bombing was “Wag the Dog” revisited, referring to the Robert De Niro-Dustin Hoffman film in which the U.S. president launches a fake military attack to distract from an extramarital affair.

“Clinton and the Congress had said the bombing was imminent,” Hurst said, noting that the president did not receive until Tuesday night the report from the United Nations’ chief inspector, which concluded that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein thwarted international arms inspections.

“They tried to take the diplomatic route, but Saddam Hussein reneged on his promise. We should have done this long ago, but, hey, better late than never,” Hurst said.

Shoppers at the Promenade at Westlake on Thousand Oaks Boulevard agreed with the vets that the airstrikes were overdue and that the attacks were not politically motivated.

“There is no good time,” said Art Mencher, 54, of Thousand Oaks, in between bites of chocolate frozen yogurt. “You might as well do it and let people think what they want.”

Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) was one of about a dozen congressmen aboard Air Force One on Tuesday night when President Clinton and his military advisors received the unfavorable report from U.N. inspectors.

Sherman, whose district includes the Conejo Valley, said Wednesday that Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright presented the case for bombing Iraq to the legislators.

“I know that this is the right thing to do, and I know that it’s not being done for political reasons,” said Sherman, who spent the weekend with Clinton on his trip to Israel.

“If you had seen the president and seen the secretary of state on that plane, you would know that they were trying to make the best possible decision, that they were aware that this could be misinterpreted by those with political concerns,” he said.

Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley), who represents the rest of Ventura County, not only questioned the timing of the missile assault, but said support from other Middle Eastern nations was disturbingly lacking.

“The timeliness of it is very poor,” Gallegly said. “Why not six weeks ago? Why not last week? . . . Where is Saudi Arabia? Where is Kuwait?

“If we have the support of the neighboring nations and Saddam Hussein is not complying with the United Nations, we should--as a coalition--stand together to stop him. However, to do it unilaterally is, I think, a very risky position for our young men and women.”

Gallegly, who voted for the articles of impeachment in the House Judiciary Committee last week, said public opinion voiced to his office had swung strongly in favor of impeachment in the hours after the attack, with as much as 80% supporting impeachment.

Richard Wells of Ventura is one of those who believes an impeachment trial should go forward.

Calling himself a conservative, Wells said he supports the military action against Iraq, but “I don’t support the timing. . . . He should have done this a long time ago.”

He said the timing of the bombing was “a ploy” by Clinton to buy time on Capitol Hill.

“He’s dragging this out hoping to get to the next Congress,” Wells said. “He can keep the bombers in the air as long as he wants until the next Congress is seated.”

But Gallegly stopped short of saying the president timed the bombings in an attempt to delay an impeachment vote.

But, he added, “I can understand the cynicism. If you put two plus two together, it’s pretty hard not to get four.”

Times staff writer Tracy Wilson contributed to this story. Times Community News reporter Jennifer Hamm also contributed to this story.

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