Stance on war in Iraq key to election

By Martha Martinez

On a typical day, Kallie O’neal sits and waits.

“He’s always gone. It’s hard, but you get used to it,” said O’neal of her fiancé, Marine Lance Cpl. Bryce Palmer, who has been in Iraq for more than five months.

O’neal, a Fresno State student, and Palmer are dealing with a long-distance relationship, but, more importantly, O’neal worries constantly about Palmer’s safety. Once, she said she didn’t hear from Palmer for about a month and she was “deathly worried.”

During that month, Palmer had been transferred from Kuwait into Najaf and had no means of communication.

Along with dealing with a long-distance relationship, O’neal also worries about her fiancé’s safety.

“But as the Marine Corps motto says, ‘no news is good news,’ ” said O’neal, who said she supports the American troops 100 percent. But when it comes to support for the Bush administration, she said she may have to re-evaluate the way she is going to vote in the Nov. 2 election.

“With the death tolls increasing,” she said, “I don’t know how long I can support the war.”

The U.S. military death toll in Iraq cleared 1,000 in early September. According to the New York Times, as of Sunday, 1,062 American soldiers had died in Iraq.

Another student, Erica Hullikin, is waiting for two close friends to return from military duty in Iraq. But she is not considering a change in her voting decision.

Hullikin said she doesn’t want another president in office while the country is at war and wants President George Bush to “finish it out.”

“I am a strong Republican. I don’t think we need someone thrown in there,” Hullikin said. “My grandpa fought in two wars. War is the price we pay to have all our rights and our freedom.”

O’neal and Hullikin illustrate the range of emotions some Fresno State students are dealing with in regard to the November election and the war in Iraq.

Gina Rojas, another student, said the issues presented by Bush and Sen. John Kerry are not very different. Voting on the president should be about what the candidate can do for the country, not who he was in the past, Rojas said.

“We should vote upon what we see is right,” Rojas said. “We should pay attention to other parties on the poll.”

After not hearing from a friend in Iraq for more than three months, Rojas had to rethink America’s position in Iraq. She said Bush jumped to conclusions about weapons of mass destruction without having evidence. She questioned Bush’s decision to declare war before any evidence was found.

“I’m glad we are being protected,” Rojas said, “even if the president makes the wrong choice. But people serving are getting killed for our safety.”

The perspective about the war in Iraq from students in the ROTC program at Fresno State differs from those who are not in the program.

ROTC senior Aaron Rubin has friends in Iraq. He is to be commissioned into the Army after he graduates in May with the possibility of being shipped to Iraq.

“If I go [to Iraq], I don't think of it at all as I could get hurt,” Rubin said. “I see it as a job that needs to be done.”

ROTC members at Fresno State differed in opinions on whether it was more important to vote for Congress or the president.

“Power is in Congress,” ROTC senior Jeff Bernard said. “It is more important to vote for your representative and senator.”

Sean Walstron disagreed and said the president is the most important category on the ballot.

Despite the disagreement on which political office is more important to vote on, both said the war in Iraq would not have an influence on their vote.

“War isn’t affecting my vote so much as domestic stuff,” Bernard said. “I am happy with the status quo and I don’t want things to change.”

Like Rubin, Walstron and Bernard are also to be commissioned into the Army after they graduate.

“No one made us come in here; we all volunteered,” Rubin said, referring to the ROTC program.

The war in Iraq has drawn many supporters and critics, but Walstron said he thinks people already have their minds made up.

“If they don’t know by now, they’re not going to vote,” Walstron said.