Retired war hero speaks out: one of our nation's most highly decorated combat veterans offers his thoughts on the current war against Iraq, including why "we should get out fast!".

Brigadier General Andrew Gatsis is one of our nation's most highly decorated veterans. Awarded numerous medals for bravery in combat during both the Korean and Vietnam Wars, he retired from active duty in 1975 after more than three decades of service in the U.S. Army.

THE NEW AMERICAN sought him out for his thoughts about the current war against Iraq, and he minced no words. "We never should have gone in there in the first place since we weren't immediately threatened," he thundered. "There were no weapons of mass destruction; Saddam Hussein's regime had no connection to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda, and wasn't responsible for the attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center; and there wasn't any evidence to back up the claim that Iraq was building nuclear weapons capability. All the reasons given by the administration to justify this war have been shown to be false."

The general is angry at what the president and his administration have done. They originally claimed the attack on Iraq was needed to fight terrorism and now insist that the effort is needed "to build democracy" in Iraq. He wants to know: "Who are we to tell the Iraqi people what kind of government they should have?" Further: "Our efforts are not resulting in freedom for the Iraqi people anyway. It is becoming increasingly clear that Iraq is becoming a radical Islamic regime aligned with Iran."

"We invaded a country that posed no threat to us," says the general. "What's different about what we have done in Iraq and what Hitler did when he sent his forces into Czechoslovakia in 1939? This war in Iraq has already cost the lives of 2,200 Americans, wounded over 15,000 more, and left at least 30,000 Iraqis dead, most of whom were non-combatants caught in crossfires or victimized by Islamist terrorists. And look at the billions of dollars being poured into this flawed effort. It saddens me to see all of this happen to our troops--and all for an unjust cause."

"Declare Victory" and Leave

Asked what he believes the Bush administration should do, he declared, "We should get out fast! We should declare victory and leave, maybe leaving a few advisers to help the Iraqis reconstruct their government and their country."

Andy Gatsis served during the Korean War that began in 1950. He knows what war is all about, and he argues that it should never be conducted unless we are attacked or there is a clear and provable threat that we will be attacked. Echoing General Douglas MacArthur, whom he reveres as a genuine hero, Gatsis believes, "No good can come from a partial effort. What kind of a war is it when there are no lines of combat and our troops have to watch out not only in front but behind and to their left and right? Not only that, our very presence as invaders has stimulated terrorist activity against our forces and against any Iraqis who are deemed friendly to America. And the situation has only worsened after almost three years of bloodletting."

He agrees with General MacArthur, who stated in his famous April 1951 speech before Congress after being relieved of duty in Korea: "It has been said that I was in effect a war monger. Nothing could be further from the truth. I know war as few other men now living know it, and nothing to me is more revolting." Andy Gatsis hates war just as much as MacArthur ever did. And like MacArthur, he has also seen the horrors of war up close.

But both men were always willing to fight an enemy that threatened our country. Gatsis makes an important distinction: "I support the troops but not the way they are being used. There are some who think it's wrong to criticize the president when there's some shooting going on. I believe that refusing to criticize this war and the way it's being conducted amounts to abandoning the troops to more slaughter and more maiming. I also believe that this war is generating a whole new group of enemies for America around the world."

True Patriots

About the reporting he sees on television and the comments he reads in newspapers, the general adds: "The mass media is always trotting out some high military or defense department official who tells Americans that the war effort is making progress. What else would military officials or civilian employees say? They know that their careers would be over if they said what was really on their minds. Only very few tell it like it really is and then most of them are never heard from again."

He offered some thoughts on another aspect of this war that he claims has been "swept under the rug" by the administration and its friends in the media. "They're using the National Guard in Iraq when the personnel in these units should never be sent abroad except in dire emergencies. If terrorism is the enemy and fighting to stop it from being unleashed against us is the goal, those who serve in the Guard should be posted to do so here at home. Sending them to Iraq has generated more terrorism and made our own country potentially more vulnerable. And because so many guardsmen have been sent to Iraq, they haven't been available to fight forest fires and stand guard when natural disasters like hurricanes devastate areas of our own country."

Listening to Andy Gatsis brings to mind the excellent definition of patriotism given many years ago by Theodore Roosevelt. "Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the President or any other public official save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country. In either event, it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth--whether about the President or anyone else." And Andy Gatsis has demonstrated by his military career and also his years of effort since retiring from active service that he is indeed a most patriotic American.