'This is not our war'
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US Army Pfc. Roger Lewis has been in Iraq for 13 months and is backing Bush in November. However his father, a Vietnam Vet, is throwing his support behind Kerry. But the one thing they both agree on is; the US has no business fighting this war.
Ex-military dad praises son, blasts Bush
TheUnion.com, April 7, 2004
As a father, William Lewis has nothing but praise for his son, Army Pfc. Roger Lewis, who recently returned from seven months of active duty in Iraq. But as an ex-military man himself, the elder Lewis cannot bring himself to praise the decisions of the nation's commander-in-chief, decisions he feels have placed America's military in a quagmire with no logical end.
In alternate sentences, Vietnam veteran William Lewis, a former Navy aircraft handler on the deck of the USS Coral Sea, praises his son while tossing daggers at President George W. Bush's Iraq policies.
Roger Lewis, 20, who returned from the Gulf March 27, has mixed feelings about the situation. He was shipped out last Aug. 10, three months after the president stood on the deck of an aircraft carrier to proclaim the end to major combat.
"I fear for his life," said William Lewis, who lives in Rough and Ready. "I am extremely proud of (my son). It takes a man with a lot of guts to do what he does. I don't support our president, but I support our troops."
There are marked differences between the elder Lewis and his son, a 2002 Nevada Union High School graduate. Dad is a silver-haired pony-tailed Libertarian who voted for Ralph Nader in 2000 and plans to throw his support behind John Kerry in November ("I want George Bush out of office," he says).
His son, outfitted in his dress greens, his hair cropped close, wasn't old enough to vote 31Ú2 years ago, but plans to cast his first presidential vote for Bush. "He did get us in this war, but he did a good job supporting the troops," the younger Lewis said Tuesday.
Roger Lewis, who served with the Fort Bragg, N.C.-based 82nd Airborne's signal battalion as a communications specialist, said Bush has worked hard to realize the sacrifices made by men and women on enemy lines, evidenced by his surprise Thanksgiving visit. Though he wasn't there to greet Bush, Roger Lewis was impressed by the president's gesture. "It shows their leader did a great thing, that he's willing to do what the troops do."
But there are times when it's evident Roger Lewis doesn't always tote the company line when it comes to his military service. When he arrived in Iraq, Roger Lewis saw a people unwilling to accept their country's occupation by foreign forces. He saw tanks blown apart, scores of improvised explosive devices and damage wrought by rocket-propelled grenades. Asked if it looked as if major combat was over, Roger Lewis shook his head. "More people were dying then than in major combat," he said.
That became evident for Roger Lewis on Dec. 11, when his buddy, Army Spc. Marshall Edgerton, 27, was killed after a bomb exploded in a truck Edgerton was escorting. The engine compartment ended up in the Euphrates River. "It was like, 'Is that it, or are they going to try something else?'" Roger Lewis said.
That event helped shape Roger Lewis' mixed outlook on the war, which is entering its 13th month. "I don't think we should be over there. It's a futile effort to be over there. The people that have the most power over there don't want change." There were supporters who would wave to U.S. troops, but there was a significant cadre of those who mocked and cursed them, he said. "I just saw people really pissed off."
While in Iraq, Roger Lewis was stationed in al-Ramadi, northwest of Baghdad. For part of the time, Lewis and his mates camped in bombed-out palaces studded in marble, the walls lined with self-portraits of deposed leader Saddam Hussein. "Somebody who puts that much money into glorifying himself shouldn't be leading people," Roger Lewis said.
With Iraq, William Lewis fears history may be repeating itself at the expense of his son and the nation's current troops, in the name of oil. "I see that this is a war that can't be won. Iraq is (vice president Dick) Cheney's war, while Vietnam was (former defense secretary Robert) McNamara's war," he said.
"We're done," he said. "I want all of our sons and daughters out of there. This is not our war."