Personal Wars

War, it seems, is one of those things that the more you know about it, the less you want any part of it. With Iraq in the crosshairs, the leading voices to go to war belong to those who have no military experience. More often than not, those against a war with Iraq have served in the military. Here's a list compiled by CHRISTINE PELISEK, with an assist from the New Hampshire Gazette's Chickenhawks database.

BUSH ADMINISTRATION

GEORGE W. BUSH Title: President Stance on Iraq: Pro-war Military history: Bush signed up for the Texas Air National Guard for six years in May 1969, which allowed him to avoid the Vietnam draft. He became an F-102 pilot in 1970, making his last flight in 1972 when he moved to Alabama to work on a GOP Senate campaign. After returning to Texas the following year, Bush says he performed nonflying duty for the Guard, but during his presidential campaign there were repeated charges that he skipped the last year and a half of his Guard obligation.

DICK CHENEY Title: Vice President Stance on Iraq: Pro-war Military history: Once mumbled to a reporter that he "had other priorities in the '60s than military service." Cheney received a couple of deferments to avoid service, first because he was a student, then because he was married.

DONALD RUMSFELD Title: Secretary of Defense Stance on Iraq: Pro-war Military history: Flew jets for the Navy between the Korean and Vietnam Wars but never saw combat.

I. LEWIS "SCOOTER" LIBBY Title: Cheney's chief of staff and assistant for national security affairs Stance on Iraq: Pro-war Military history: Sat out the Vietnam War at Yale University and Columbia Law School.

ANDREW CARD Title: White House Chief of Staff Stance on Iraq: Pro-war Military history: None

PAUL WOLFOWITZ Title: Deputy Secretary of Defense Stance on Iraq: Pro-war Military history: None. Went to Cornell University and University of Chicago instead.

RICHARD PERLE Title: Chairs Pentagon's Defense Policy Board; Assistant Secretary of Defense Stance on Iraq: Pro-war Military history: Sat out the Vietnam War at the University of Chicago.

ARI FLEISCHER Title: White House Press Secretary Stance on Iraq: Pro-war Military history: None

TOM RIDGE Title: Director of the Homeland Security Office Stance on Iraq: Pro-war Military history: In his first year at the Dickinson School of Law, he was drafted into the U.S. Army and served as an infantry staff sergeant in Vietnam, earning the Bronze Star for Valor.

ELLIOTT ABRAMS Title: Senior Director, National Security Council Stance on Iraq: Pro-war Military history: None

KARL ROVE Title: Senior White House Adviser Stance on Iraq: Pro-war Military history: None

JOHN ASHCROFT Title: Attorney General Stance on Iraq: Pro-war Military history: He received a deferment during the Vietnam War and taught business education at a Missouri college.â COLIN POWELL Title: Secretary of State Stance on Iraq: Anti-war Military history: Powell served two tours in Vietnam. During the second, he survived a helicopter crash landing, then went back into the smoking wreckage and saved his commanding general and two other soldiers. Powell received two Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star, a Soldier's Medal and the Legion of Merit. In 1973, he took command of a battalion in South Korea. Later that year, he returned to Washington as a staff officer at the Pentagon. His career has encompassed the invasions of Grenada (1983) and Panama (1989), 1991 Gulf War, the 1992-93 engagement in Somalia and the crisis in Bosnia.

RICHARD ARMITAGE Title: Deputy Secretary of State Stance on Iraq: Anti-war Military history: U.S. Naval Academy grad and Vietnam veteran.

ASA HUTCHINSON Title: Director of the Drug Enforcement Administration Stance on Iraq: Pro-war Military history: None

TOMMY THOMPSON Title: Secretary of Health and Human Services Stance on Iraq: Pro-war Military history: National Guard.

MILITARY

BRENT SCOWCROFT Title: Retired General and Former National Security Adviser Stance on Iraq: Anti-war Military history: Commander in the Gulf War; 29-year military career.

NORMAN SCHWARZKOPF Title: Retired General Stance on Iraq: Anti-war Military history: Schwarzkopf served two combat tours in Vietnam and later was designated the Deputy Commander of the Joint Task Force in charge of U.S. Forces participating in the Grenada student rescue operation. He is most notable as Commander in Chief, United States Central Command, and Commander of Operations of Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

ANTHONY ZINNI Title: Retired General Stance on Iraq: Anti-war Military history: Gulf War logistics chief; later Schwarzkopf's successor at Central Command.

JAMES WEBB Title: Former Navy Secretary Stance on Iraq: Anti-war Military history: Vietnam vet.

SCOTT RITTER Title: Retired U.S. Marines major; former chief of the weapons inspection teams in Iraq (until he resigned in 1998) Stance on Iraq: Anti-war Military history: He saw combat in Iraq during the Gulf War. Former U.S. Marine.

POLITICIANS

JOHN McCAIN Title: Senator, R-Arizona Stance on Iraq: Pro-war Military history: In 1967, he was shot down over Vietnam and held as a prisoner of war in Hanoi for five and a half years. He retired from the Navy as a captain in 1981. McCain's naval honors include the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying Cross.

TOM DASCHLE Title: Senate Majority Leader, D-South Dakota Stance on Iraq: Anti-war Military history: Vietnam War vet. Served three years as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Air Force Strategic Air Command.