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thedrifter
09-16-03, 04:15 AM
Iraq needs American forces' help, Peekskill diners say
By SEAN GORMAN
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: August 20, 2003)

PEEKSKILL — Customers at the Royal J Diner yesterday denounced the deadly attack on the United Nations' headquarters in Baghdad, but generally agreed that despite the problems facing the troops in Iraq, the United States should not pull out now.

Gerald McKinney, a 38-year-old Peekskill resident, said that seeing on television the aftermath of yesterday's attack that claimed the lives of the top U.N. envoy in Iraq and 19 others reinforced his sense that things aren't going well in that country.

"I think it's a mess," McKinney, an industrial maintenance mechanic, said after eating a gyro at the 1 Bank St. eatery. "You can't pull out. You've got to try to maintain peace, and try to get some order."

Tim Good, 41, of Peekskill, said he was angry when he watched news reports of the bombing.

"Nobody deserves that. Nobody deserves to die at the hands of these terrorists," Good said. "It's going to be a long, hard road. ... It's going good, but it's going slow, and it's going to take time."

Don Jones, a computer technical support analyst for IBM, said that Iraq will be a difficult place to manage without help from the United Nations, whose personnel were working to improve the humanitarian situation and help in reconstruction.

"The U.S. (and Britain) have cut themselves off," said Jones, a 45-year-old Ossining resident. "It's like 'we can take on the world,' and they're going to police the entire world."

William Broadnax, said he would like to see more countries involved in dealing with Iraq, adding that he had been heartened to see Iraqis asked to help police their country.

"We just can't go in there and do it all by ourselves," said Broadnax, a 68-year-old librarian who lives in Peekskill. "My gut feeling about Iraq is that I would like more U.N. intervention than just us going alone, primarily alone, with the British."

Some diners said they expected to see more strife in Iraq and doubted that the country will ever entirely be at peace.

Thiago Trinchinato, a 20-year-old Cortlandt resident, gave the United States credit for its handling of the rebuilding efforts in Iraq, but said he doesn't expect to see the unrest end.

"It may decrease, but it won't stop,"said Trinchinato, the manager of a recreational vehicle rental company. "It's gotten to the point in which you can't take it anymore, and you don't feel like watching the news anymore, because nothing changes."

Residents, whatever their opinion about the situation in Iraq, said the United States needs to keep its forces in Iraq.

"They can't (leave), but they've got to change what they're doing. They're running around in those ... (Humvees) and people are taking pot shots at them," said Bob Collier, an 80-year-old Van Cortlandtville resident and World War II veteran. "The poor GIs are not trained to be police."



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Sempers,

Roger
:marine: