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.

JOHN KERRY
Title: Senator, D-Massachusetts
Stance on Iraq: Anti-war
Military history: Highly decorated Vietnam War vet.

CYNTHIA McKINNEY
Title: Congresswoman, D-Georgia
Stance on Iraq: Anti-war
Military history: None

JIM JEFFORDS
Title: Senator, I-Vermont
Stance on Iraq: Anti-war
Military history: Served active duty with the U.S. Navy from 1956
to 1959, and retired from the U.S. Naval Reserve as a captain in 1990.

PETE STARK
Title: Congressman, D-California
Stance on Iraq: Anti-war
Military history: Vietnam War vet. Stark served in the U.S. Air
Force.

HARRY REID
Title: Assistant Senate Majority Leader; D-Nevada
Stance on Iraq: Anti-war
Military history: None

DENNIS KUCINICH
Title: Congressman, D-Ohio
Stance on Iraq: Anti-war
Military history: None

BARBARA LEE
Title: Congresswoman, D-California
Stance on Iraq: Anti-war
Military history: None

RUSS FEINGOLD
Title: Senator, D-Wisconsin
Stance on Iraq: Anti-war
Military history: None

BOB BARR
Title: Congressman, R-Georgia
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None

PHIL GRAMM
Title: Senator, R-Texas
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: Received a marriage deferment and avoided Vietnam.

TRENT LOTT
Title: Senate Minority Leader, R-Mississippi
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None

DENNIS HASTERT
Title: House Majority Leader, R-Illinois
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None

DICK ARMEY
Title: House Majority Leader, R-Texas
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None

TOM DeLAY
Title: House Majority Whip, R-Texas
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: The most powerful hawk in the House of Representatives.
A no-show in Vietnam. He is said to have once complained that he would have
served but all the spots were taken up by ethnic minorities.

JOSEPH LIEBERMAN
Title: Senator, D-Connecticut
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None

JEB BUSH
Title: Florida Governor, Republican
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None

OTHERS

BILL CLINTON
Title: Former President
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war. The goal to remove Saddam was adopted
during Clinton's reign on the eve of his impeachment vote, though recently he
has raised doubts about going after him.
Military history: None, with Vietnam deferment.

DAN QUAYLE
Title: Former Vice President
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None. Served in the National Guard.

GEORGE H. W. BUSH
Title: Former President
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: WWII fighter pilot.

JAMES BAKER
Title: Former Secretary of State
Stance on Iraq: Anti-war. Warned last week that acting unilaterally
against Iraq would be unwise.
Military history: Spent two years of active duty as a lieutenant
in the United States Marine Corps in the 1950s.

JACK KEMP
Title: Former Congressman
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None. Played pro football instead.

TOM HAYDEN
Title: Former California state Senator
Stance on Iraq: Anti-war
Military history: None

WAYNE LaPIERRE
Title: Executive vice president of National Rifle Association
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None

BILL O'REILLY
Title: Fox News commentator, “The O'Reilly Factor”
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None

FRANK GAFFNEY
Title: Founder/director of the Center for Security Policy
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None

WILLIAM KRISTOL
Title: Editor of The Weekly Standard
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None

ROBERT KAGAN
Title: Member of Project for a New American Century
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER
Title: Nationally syndicated columnist
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: Missed out because he is Canadian.

GARY BAUER
Title: Christian Right leader
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None

MARTIN PERETZ
Title: The New Republic editor
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None

WILLIAM BENNETT
Title: Former drug czar; co-director of Empower America
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None

GEORGE WILL
Title: Essayist
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None

NEWT GINGRICH
Title: Former House Speaker
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None

RUSH LIMBAUGH
Title: Radio personality
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: Missed Vietnam because of anal cysts.

BRITT HUME
Title: FOX commentator
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None

ALAN KEYES
Title: MSNBC host
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None

[

JERRY FALWELL
Title: Religious personality
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None

KENNETH STARR
Title: Former independent counsel
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None

ANTONIN SCALIA
Title: U.S. Supreme Court Justice
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None

CLARENCE THOMAS
Title: U.S. Supreme Court Justice
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None

RUDY GIULIANI
Title: Former mayor of New York
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None

SYLVESTER STALLONE
Title: Actor
Stance on Iraq: Pro-war
Military history: None

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