By Howard Wilkinson
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Six months after President Bush declared major fighting in Iraq to be over, American soldiers are still dying and the war goes on - even here in Cincinnati, half a world away from Baghdad.

Nancy Finley holds a photograph of her son Glenn Raibon. He is stationed in Afghanistan. (Michael E. Keating photo) | ZOOM |

Here, it is a war of words, a war of conflicting emotions, a confrontation between two groups, each with very strong beliefs.

There are those who believe the United States has made a mistake and should find a way out of what they see as a bottomless pit that will keep on sucking in lives and money - such as the handful of protesters who leafleted the Fountain Square lunch crowd Friday afternoon.

There also are those such as Fairfield dentist Sam Arnold who believe just as strongly that it is a righteous cause.

"We are quite literally fighting the war against terrorism in Iraq, in the streets of Baghdad," says Arnold, who served in Vietnam and who has an officer son on the USS Nimitz.

"We are fighting a war we have to fight against a people who hate us because we are free," he adds. "It is a war against terrorists that I would rather have us fight in downtown Baghdad than in downtown Cincinnati."

There is ample evidence that while there was strong support for the U.S.-led war when it began in April, the country is now split right down the middle. A USA Today/Gallup Poll taken last weekend showed 50 percent of Americans disapprove of the Bush administration's handling of Iraq.

"Maybe the greatest danger is if the public turns against what we are doing in Iraq over time," says U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio, a supporter of the Iraq campaign who returned Monday from a three-day tour of the war zone with seven other House members.

Chabot says that if the U.S. is to win its war against terrorism, it was essential that the repressive regime headed by Saddam Hussein be taken out and replaced with a democratic Iraq.

Thursday, Chabot voted for the $87.5 billion aid package for Iraq and Afghanistan that President Bush asked for, even though Chabot said he would have preferred that it be a loan package.

It was an aid package that provoked contentious debate, coming at a time when states like Ohio are financially strapped and when the jury is still out on whether Bush tax cuts will stimulate the economy.

To many, it seems irrational for the United States to spend that much to rebuild a country sitting on top of more oil than any country other than Saudi Arabia.

"We are going to spend $87 billion in tax dollars to put that country back on its feet when we've got thousands of Americans out of work and millions more scared they're going to be out of work soon?" says Nancy Finley of Golf Manor, an Air Force veteran whose son sought fought in Afghanistan. "This is insane. Enough is enough. This is a no-win situation. Bring our troops home."

Chabot says the fact that Iraq is sitting on the world's second largest supply of oil is a good argument for Iraq financing at least part of its own reconstruction.

"It just makes sense to use that resource," says Chabot.

Drain on resources

The drain on U.S. financial resources and the almost daily reports of American casualties - 114 killed before the fall of Baghdad; 117 since - have split public opinion in the United States right down the middle.

Here, too, opinion is split - in late September, the University of Cincinnati's Ohio Poll showed that 53 percent of Ohioans approve of Bush's actions in Iraq - down from 82 percent in April.

Signs of dissent in Cincinnati are ever-present. A dozen or so demonstrators stand on the grass strip in the center of Central Parkway downtown at rush hour each Monday afternoon, waving anti-war signs and asking motorists to lay on their car horns if they oppose the war.

During the sunny lunch hour Friday, downtown office workers lunching on Fountain Square were greeted by several local peace activists dressing up in costumes on Halloween to pass out anti-war pamphlets.

The protests enrage many in the Cincinnati area who have relatives in the military.

And they are many. For example, more than 10,000 Army Reservists and National Guardsmen called up from units in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana for the Iraqi war effort remain on active duty today, down from a height of nearly 14,000.

The protests, military family members say, hurt the morale of the troops trying to do a difficult job in near-impossible conditions.

"This is hard enough for people who have family members fighting over there, without all the negativity'' says Mia Supe of Summerside, whose brother is a platoon sergeant with the Army's Task Force Iron Horse in Iraq. "The soldiers will tell you, 'don't believe what you see on the TV; things are not that bad.' But, in this country, all we hear about is the negative.''

Sister Alice Gerdeman of the Intercommunity Justice and Peace Coalition, the Over-the-Rhine-based group that has staged many of the local protests, says the anti-war activities aren't directed at the soldiers; they are directed at the policy-makers.

"Almost everybody I know in the peace movement has a loved one in Iraq," says Gerdeman. "We pray for them and their families every day. What we protest is not the soldiers who carry out the policy, but the people who make the policy. They are the ones who have to answer for this."

But for every anti-war protestor, there are just as many signs on the other side.

The "Support Our Troops and President Bush" yard signs that have sprung up in almost every Cincinnati area community. Groups like the Military Support Group in Blue Ash have organized, where parents of service men and women gather to talk and fill boxes with snacks and baby wipes for soldiers in Iraq.

Judith Trent, a professor of political communications at the University of Cincinnati, believes the Bush administration is losing support because the president overplayed his hand trying to make the case for war in Iraq.

"People heard him talking about the threat Saddam posed, the weapons of mass destruction, the ties to terrorism," Trent says. "Now they look around and see what is happening. Saddam is nowhere to be found. The chemical and biological weapons are nowhere to be found. Americans are dying every day over there. How could (Bush) not lose support?"

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E-mail hwilkinson@enquirer.com