Soldier speaks against war

As a soldier, Staff Sgt. Bradley E. Owens followed the orders of the commander-in-chief, fighting in the war in Iraq.

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But out of uniform at a Saturday morning Richmond County Democratic Party breakfast, he spoke against the policies of the president.

"Some say that it's unpatriotic to question the administration," Staff Sgt. Owens said. "I say it's unpatriotic not to question the administration."

Involved with the Richmond County Democratic Party since before his Army Reserve military intelligence battalion was first activated during the war in Afghanistan, Staff Sgt. Owens said he opposed the Iraq war.

"I supported the war against al-Qaida, and operations in Afghanistan," he said. "I was glad to go and happy to go - those people had brought war to us."

Staff Sgt. Owens said even though he personally didn't agree with the decision to go to war in Iraq, he said he was proud of how the military performed its job.

"Support the troops - it's not our fault," Staff Sgt. Owens said. "I didn't support the policies, but I did it because it was my job, and I'm proud of who did it."

He said military intelligence, which was responsible for making some of the targeting decisions during Operation Iraqi Freedom, did all that was possible to avoid civilian casualties.

He also said he believes Senate hearings about intelligence on Saddam Hussein's weapons programs will be fruitful.

"A lot of soldiers have returned from this war with the idea that this war was unnecessary," he said.

Reach Jeremy Craig at (706) 823-3409 or jeremy.craig@augustachronicle.com.

--From the Sunday, June 22, 2003 printed edition of the Augusta Chronicle