> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # SM reacts to idea of war - URL: https://www.smdp.com/sm-reacts-to-idea-of-war/ - Published: 2003-03-18T16:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T01:50:09.000Z - Author: John Wood - Tags: local, Santa Monica, #archive-import *Residents speak out on confrontation with Iraq* Area residents responded with mixed emotions Monday to President Bush’s call for the removal of Saddam Hussein. While some voiced support for a U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, others questioned the government’s decision to act without the backing of the United Nations. In a nationwide address Monday evening, President Bush issued an ultimatum to the leader of Iraq, giving him 48 hours to flee the country or face military action “at a time of our choosing.” “These attacks are not inevitable,” Bush said. “They are, however, possible. We will not be intimidated by thugs and killers.” Bryan Daly, a 28-year-old media production executive who recently moved to Santa Monica from New York, applauded the President’s move. “It’s an unhappy situation,” Daly said while sipping green St. Patrick’s Day beer as a bagpiper played “God Bless America” at Britannia Pub on Santa Monica Boulevard. “But what do we do? Do we wait and hope things get better?” Daly said the U.S. already had waited long enough to act. He dismissed the argument that the U.S. should have secured U.N. support, saying it was unrealistic and a “bad joke.” Others listening to the President’s speech weren’t so sure. “It’s either the worst or the best thing that’s ever happened,” said Brad Jones, a 28-year-old graduate student. “We won’t know until later. But you have to draw the line in the sand somewhere.” David Mahon, a 46-year-old English teacher who spends the bulk of his time teaching in South America, said the time has come for action. “I don’t support the war,” said Mahon over a meal on the Venice Boardwalk. “But in a situation like this there comes a point where you either pull out or get out or do what you have to do.” With 250,000 troops poised for action, Bush on Monday vowed, “The tyrant will soon be gone.” The President raised the nation’s terror alert to orange — the second-highest level warning that terrorists may strike U.S. interests at home or abroad in response to action against Iraq. The President told the Iraqi people, “The day of your liberation is near.” Bush issued his ultimatum after U.N. allies refused to back his bid for a resolution sanctioning military force. The diplomatic defeat forced Bush to move toward war accompanied by Britain, Spain, Australia and a handful of other nations in his self-described “coalition of the willing.” Like many locals who watched the President speak on St. Patrick’s Day, Brenda Anderson, a 38-year-old business assistant, said she was against the war and accused the President of “looking over” more pressing concerns to focus on Iraq. “When is his term up anyway?” the Australian native said of Bush. “I just feel like (President Bush) has been bred — his whole family has been bred — to go to war. Aren’t there more important things? It’s senseless, just senseless.” Most criticisms were targeted at President Bush, who one woman referred to as “a cowboy who is still on his big bad horse in the wild, wild west.” Teruhisa Miyajima, a 35-year-old Japanese student who is choosing between UCLA, Harvard and Columbia for graduate school, called the Bush regime “arrogant” and said there was “work to be done” before a war should be waged. “I am against the war,” Miyajima said in broken English. “I watch the television and the American people protesting the war. I am delighted by their passion. “(Bush) loves freedom. I love freedom too,” he added. “But he must envision what is freedom and what is not freedom. Sometimes freedom oppresses other people. Freedom is not an infinite thing, it is limited.” Other internationals agree the U.S. is moving too quickly. A group of Puerto Rican students vacationing from the University of Massachusetts for spring break accused Bush of pursuing oil interests no matter what the cost. “It’s inevitable with that clown in the white house,” said Jean-Pierre Carraquillo, 21\. “All he wants to do is control the oil. Bush is on a power trip. He wants to go in and control the oil and finish what his father did.” Local residents also voiced opposition to a looming war in the Middle East. “I hate Saddam Hussein and think he is a terrorist,” said a man who referred to himself as “Buck Stimpson,” a 29-year-old writer and animator who lives in Venice. “But I don’t trust George Bush to come in and take care of this.” Darryl Harding, a 38-year-old film-maker, agrees. “Instead of bringing everyone together, they’re trying to pull everyone apart,” he said of the Bush administration. “The way he talks and the way he acts scares the hell out of people. I don’t trust the guy.” Harding dismissed the conjecture that war is the only method of dealing with Hussein. “There’s a daisy cutter with his name on it somewhere in the U.S. arsenal if they really want to use it,” he said. “(Hussein) is a lunatic and he does need to be deposed. But I question Bush’s methods. He should try harder to rally support.” For the first time since Bush drew the nation’s attention to Iraq last fall, he focused on the questions most asked by Americans: Why war? And why now? Making the case for war, the President said Saddam has weapons of mass destruction he might share with terrorists, has a history of hating America and is a destabilizing force in the Middle East. “The United States did nothing to deserve or invite this threat, but we will do everything to defeat it. Instead of drifting along toward tragedy, we will set a course toward safety,” the president said from the White House. “The tyrant will soon be gone,” he said. He expressed disappointment that the United Nations had failed to stand beside the United States. “The United Nations Security Council has not lived up to its responsibilities so we will rise to ours,” he said. An intense White House debate over whether to establish a timetable was settled hours before the President’s speech. Some argued that Bush should not set a deadline because Saddam could use the notice to build opposition to the President’s case or even launch a pre-emptive strike against U.S. interests. Bush said that after 12 years of diplomacy and weapons inspections, “Our good faith has not been returned. The Iraqi regime has used diplomacy as a ploy to gain time and advantage.” “We are not dealing with peaceful men,” he said. Bush also addressed Iraqi troops. “If war comes, do not fight for a dying regime that is not worth your own life,” Bush said. He told soldiers to listen carefully to his warning that they should not destroy oil wells or use weapons of mass destruction. To civilians in Iraq he said, “If we must begin a military campaign it will be directed to lawless men who direct your country and not at you.” He pledged the United States would provide food, medicine and other assistance as Iraq recovers from war. The address came 24 hours after Bush’s return from an Atlantic island summit, where he joined with allies from Britain and Spain to give the U.N. Security Council one day consent to disarming Saddam with force. A quick round of telephone calls Sunday night and Monday morning confirmed what aides said Bush had concluded before the summit: The allies’ U.N. resolution was doomed to fail. He ordered the measure withdrawn to avoid an embarrassing defeat, then gave the go-ahead for a long-planned ultimatum address. The American public, by a 2-1 margin, generally supports military action against Iraq to remove Saddam, a slight increase from recent weeks, according to a CNN- USA Today-Gallup poll out Monday. Opinion was evenly divided when people were asked about an attack without an attempt to gain U.N. backing. White House and congressional sources said Bush intends to send Congress a bill seeking more than $70 billion to pay for the war. Back in the pub, Daly said the reactions against Bush were all just part of the equation with any war. “Bush is going to flex a certain amount of muscle,” he said, “and that is going to cause a backlash no matter what.” Daly balked at the argument that oil was the real motive behind the war. “If we wanted the oil, we’d buy it,” he said. “Just end the embargo and buy it.” (The Associated Press contributed to this report.) *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 18, 2003.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/031803.pdf?ref=smdp.com)