PENSACOLA, Fla. — Both the House and Senate are set to vote on a war powers resolution to ensure Congress has a chance to approve any acts of war or attack against another nation.
Several veterans who served in the Iraq War gave their opinion on the ongoing operations in Iran Tuesday night. All three veterans said they support President Donald Trump’s decision.
They all say the events of this weekend were 47 years in the making.
“I remember in 1979, my first year of college watching the American embassy fall and the hostages that stayed in there for a year,” Ret. U.S. Army CSM Curtis Wesson said.
On Nov. 4, 1979, Iranian students took 66 Americans hostage at the U.S.’s embassy in Tehran. Several veterans say this was the first action that led to “Operation Epic Fury.”
“I actually went to school with one of the prisoners, one of the captives,” USMC combat veteran Cris Dosev said. “He ended up at the University of Florida while I was there. Staff sergeant Curtley was his name. And he spent 444 days in Iranian hands.”
Dosev flew in operation desert storm as an a6 intruder, bombardier. He said striking Iran, was inevitable.
“I do support the president. And the actions,” said Dosev. “I wish we could have avoided this, but it’s almost like next to impossible to think that’s a realistic expectation given the fact that these mullahs run that place the way they do. It’s downright medieval.”
Daniel Gilyeat was medically discharged during his second tour in Iraq after a roadside bomb nearly killed him.
“Iran needed to be stopped. They wouldn’t take a hint,” USMS combat veteran Daniel Gilyeat said. “He said it was a joy to hear about Operation Epic Fury.”
“A lot of our Iraq and Afghanistan veterans can now start the healing process. It was extremely devastating for so many to have fought in the Iraq and Afghanistan war, knowing that Iran was in the main backer behind all of that, with all the terrorism and everything else going on,” said Gilyeat. “And to pull out of Afghanistan and to see so many of my veteran friends be absolutely devastated believing that what we did over there was just made no sense. And to see so many of their friends killed and friends maimed and disfigured for what, you know. there was no end to it. There was no closure.”
Wesson served 32 years in the Army during the Gulf Wars.
“We kept telling them not to have nukes,” Wesson said. “They kept processing their nuclear capability. They had plenty of chances.”
He says he’s proud of our forces, and the advancement of technology, that made the strike successful.
“I don’t like conflict because you never know how it’s going to turn out. but in this case and the history over the last 47 to 50 years of what has happened, you got to control your destiny,” Wesson said. “When they’ve got nuclear weapons and they chant death to America, then are we going to sit and wait for something to happen? We have more capability if we strike first than if we conduct a retaliatory strike. So personally, I am for the decision to go in and take them out.”
A poll conducted by CNN over the weekend found 59-percent of Americans disapprove of the initial decision to strike Iran.
Forty-one percent approve. Fifty-six percent also say they see long-term military conflict between the U.S. and Iran as at least somewhat likely.