Full Backing in O.C. for Strike on Iraq Is Hard to Come By

Vincent Noto hasn’t been called lately by any pollsters asking if he would support a U.S. military strike against Iraq over Saddam Hussein’s hindrance of weapons inspections.

And that’s just as well. Because Noto’s answer is not nearly as clear as the question.

“I’m divided over this thing,” said Noto, manager of a Garden Grove used-book store. “My biggest concern is, what are the allies doing? I would like to see other countries involved, like they were under Bush.”

Seven years ago, the drums of war set the cadence for nationwide condemnations of Iraq’s invasion of tiny Kuwait, and for the necessity of a united international response. There were antiwar voices to be heard, but the general feeling around Orange County and the rest of the nation was of resignation, as though confronting Hussein was a necessary but distasteful chore.

This time around the lines are fuzzier. There’s been no invasion of Kuwait. And while polls show a majority of Americans support the U.S. leading international action against Hussein, that support is muted. The polls ask yes and no questions. Measuring the gray area, the intensity of support or opposition, is another matter, as Secretary of State Madeleine Albright discovered during public meetings this week aimed at selling President Clinton’s plan to a skeptical nation.

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Count Noto among the skeptics. He said he understands the need to compel Hussein to allow weapons inspections under the terms of surrender at the end of the last war. He’s not sure, though, that he understands how bombing suspected weapons facilities achieves that.

“When you bomb the hell out of people, they tend to coalesce,” Noto said. “Look at London in World War II. They fought harder and harder. They really felt stronger.”

Underlying his skepticism is his lack of faith that the U.S. government is being completely truthful in its pronouncements.

“During the [Gulf War] we were told about the accuracy of the weapons, then we find out that something like 50% of them missed their targets,” Noto said. “What are we going to be told this time? What are we going to believe? What if they tell us they will aim for one thing, then hit a school? When you aim at Saddam Hussein himself, who else are you going to kill? Are [news] reporters supposed to take at face value what the generals say?”

Eunice Bobert of Orange shares that uncertainty.

“The previous [war] was a just cause. This is like. . . .” His voice trailed off, and he juggled his open palms up and down. “What’s really happening? I think this one is going to have some political problems.”

Bobert said he personally suspects Hussein is hiding weapons.

“Same as anything else: If he had nothing to hide, why worry about [inspections]?” said Bobert, 41, chief executive officer of the nonprofit Orange Housing Development Corp., adding that he thinks military action is likely. “Nobody likes to see it, but somewhere along the line, somebody has to take a stand. Unfortunately, innocent people will be affected more than the people who are responsible for all this.”

Pam Hope, a pacifist who opposed the Gulf War, thinks the U.S. is pressuring the wrong country. If Hussein has developed weapons of mass destruction, he did it with the help of America’s allies, she said.

“I’m in favor of really putting the screws on the countries that were selling technology and weapons to Iraq,” said Hope, manager of the donated food program at the Orange County Community Development Council. “Besides the U.S., in the past France and Japan and Germany and many other countries continued to do business with Iraq. The pressure should be on those countries.”

Hope said she can’t reconcile military action with the stated goals.

“Half a million people have been killed in the last intervention and the subsequent hunger and illnesses that shouldn’t have taken place,” she said. “I don’t know how to balance it.”

Her biggest fear, Hope said, is that a single bombing run could lead to much broader ramifications.

“I’m afraid that it could really escalate out of control,” she said. “Russia and China, two other superpowers, are against the strike. I don’t know what actions they would take. Also, I’m afraid of the consequence of us bombing a site that might [release] chemical weapons that weren’t going to be fired.”

Despite the buildup, Andy Green, 28, thinks the U.S. might be acting too quickly. He’s suspicious of the timing, the showdown coinciding with public revelations about a possible sexual relationship between Clinton and a former intern.

“I understand the point of what’s going on,” said Green, who lives in Long Beach but runs the Green Records music shop in Orange. “Why, all of a sudden, are they trying to take action at this moment? Are they trying to cover up?”

While he’s concerned about Hussein, he’s also uncertain about the U.S. role. The showdown, he said, has all but sidelined the United Nations.

“All those nations together--that’s what the U.N.’s about,” Green said, edgy rock music pumping through the store speakers. “I haven’t figured out why other countries aren’t supporting this. Why does the U.S. always have to be the one to start things, have to be the bad guy? It seems like there could be a peaceful solution, but I’ve kind of given up on the whole government. They’re going to run it the way they want to run it.”

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Lurking behind the ambivalence is a sense of history. The game plan seems to be military strikes at specified targets, but Noto, for one, can’t shake images of the Soviet Union getting bogged down in Afghanistan in the ‘80s or the U.S. quagmire in Vietnam in the ‘60s and early ‘70s.

“I’m not one to believe that the problem with Vietnam was that the people did not support the troops,” Noto said, classical music floating through the shelf-lined bookstore. “The problem was whether or not we had a moral responsibility to be there. Whether we supported the issue, not the troops.

“We didn’t support [military action] when the Kurds were getting it,” he continued, referring to Hussein’s use of chemical weapons against his own Iraqi citizens. “Why are we supporting it now? We support it when the wallet’s involved.”

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Scott Martelle can be reached at (714) 966-5974. His e-mail address is scott.martelle@latimes.com.