Support for Iraq Strike Lukewarm in San Diego

As late risers gathered Saturday morning at a strip mall coffeehouse in Clairemont Mesa--a middle-lass enclave of aging tract homes and discount stores--thoughts on President Clinton’s plan for military action in Iraq ran as tepid as the drinks were hot.

Among the latte sippers, the question of Iraq raised doubts and misgivings rather than conviction and urgency. Troubled by the lack of allies and clear objectives, and what appeared to some to be an artificial urgency, many said they would rather wait than strike.

Even some who supported military action said the matter was simply too complex, too murky and too hopeless to work up much enthusiasm.

“I don’t like war any more than anybody else, especially from a spiritual point of view,” said retired child care worker Mary Grojean. “But Saddam Hussein is killing his own people. I think we need to do something. I’m just not sure what.”

Grojean looked to her husband, Dale, a 20-year Navy veteran who squinted thoughtfully for a moment and nodded. “Most people we know don’t object to going in there,” he said. “But what’s the plan? What’s the objective? If we’re just going to bomb them for five days to get Saddam’s attention, we might as well stay home.”

In their ambivalence, the Grojeans could have spoken for many other in San Diego, a bayfront city on the border that encompasses two naval stations, two major university campuses, growing immigrant populations and a burgeoning high-tech industry.

From a dimly lighted Veterans of Foreign Wars barroom in Coronado to the tony seaside community of La Jolla, there was little enthusiasm for the strategic strike called for by Clinton. Some felt the plan didn’t go far enough, others that it was too soon to give up on diplomacy.

“We should wait, evaluate the options and try to get our allies to rally around us,” said Robert Churchman, a telecommunications manager from La Jolla. “He’s trying to jump the gun now to take everyone’s attention away from the [Monica] Lewinsky problem, but it’s not selling. Even the people he’s convinced are just lukewarm about it. If he’s smart, he’ll wait and try to reason it out logically.”

A call-in poll by a news radio station in San Diego on Friday found sentiments running 3 to 2 against the plan, an outcome that didn’t surprise conservative talk show host Roger Hedgecock.

“The people who are for it are not vocal--they have a lot of concerns,” he said. “The ones against it are voicing their opinions more strongly. They’re not sold on the plan. The thing is, these halfway measures sound so much like Vietnam, they’re freaking people out.”

Rep. Brian P. Bilbray, the Republican whose 49th District encompasses the heart of San Diego, said calls from his constituency have been running strongly against a strike. “No one is more pro-military than San Diego, but no community probably knows better the pitfalls of playing politics with the military,” Bilbray said, as he prepared for an afternoon forum on tax reforms. “People are getting mixed signals and they’re feeling apprehensive about that. They want to do something, but they aren’t happy with what they’re hearing.”

Indeed, in a city that created a “human flag” from thousands of supporters at the height of the 1991 Gulf War, some of the most ardent supporters of military muscle expressed reservations about involvement in Iraq now.

“It won’t be a walk-through like the last time we were in the gulf,” said a Marine Corps veteran at the Coronado bar, who identified himself only as George. “We don’t have the coalition we had then. We don’t have the military strength we had then. And we don’t have the clear objectives. You’ve got a wacko in there, and you’ve got to do something. But what? That’s the question on everyone’s mind. What are we going to bomb, and if we do bomb, what are we going to achieve?”

And as several of his comrades at the bar nodded enthusiastically, George expressed an opinion that is widespread in military circles here: “I don’t like a draft dodger calling the shots on this.”

Across the bay, fronting the gleaming San Diego Convention Center, about 100 opponents of military intervention gathered for a vigil, holding signs that read “No to Genocide” and “No War”.

Organizer Stephanie Jennings, who recently visited Iraq with her pediatrician husband on a humanitarian tour, also put together a march against Operation Desert Storm seven years ago. She said she noticed a lack of enthusiasm among protesters as well this time around. “It was hard for us to go through this again. People are feeling really disheartened,” she said.

But Jennings, who favored relying on diplomacy in the Middle East, said she also noted a lack of conviction among those who have traditionally supported military intervention. “The reasoning looks weak to the American people,” she said. “What is it we’re actually going to war over? There doesn’t seem to be any compelling reason to go. If we bomb Iraq now, it will be equivalent to what happened to us in Pearl Harbor.”