Thursday, May 6, 2004

War widow criticizes U.S. role in Iraq

Associated Press

EDEN, Vt. =97 The widow of a Maine National Guard soldier killed in Iraq = last month is calling on Americans to question their government's policy in th= at country.

Lavinia Onitiu-Gelineau said Wednesday it was good for Americans to be patriotic but people need to question whether the things the troops are doing in Iraq are right.

"I am very angry," Onitiu-Gelineau said. "I was angry before but I didn't want to say anything."

Now, both she and her father-in-law, John Gelineau of Eden, said they planned to speak out about U.S. policy in Iraq, which has led to the deat= hs of hundreds of American service members.

"The funeral is over," John Gelineau said. "Now it's our turn to speak."

Onitiu-Gelineau's husband, Spc. Christopher Gelineau, 23, was killed Apri= l 20 when the convoy he was escorting was ambushed near Mosul, Iraq. Geline= au grew up in Starksboro and moved to Portland, Maine, for college. He was o= ne semester short of graduating from the University of Southern Maine when h= is National Guard unit, the 133rd Engineering Battalion, was called up for d= uty in Iraq.

"I am very proud of my husband," said Onitiu-Gelineau, a native of Romani= a. "I am not proud of his reason for being there."

She didn't speak out before because she didn't want to create problems fo= r her husband in his National Guard unit, she said.

Having grown up in Romania, which is struggling to shake off a half-centu= ry of Communism, Onitiu-Gelineau said she was amazed at the ability of Americans to speak their mind, yet surprised that so few chose to do so.

And she questioned the reasons President Bush gave for going to war in Ir= aq, including the search for weapons of mass destruction.

"The president ordered my husband and other husbands to go there," she sa= id. "Have they found anything?