Nevada delegates somber as war begins

Benjamin Grove

Thursday, March 20, 2003 | 11:18 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., was still in his office on Capitol Hill Wednesday night when the opening salvos of the war were fired. It was far from the cockpit of an F-4 jet that he was in 12 years ago as an Air Force pilot flying reconnaissance missions over Iraq.

Gibbons' job was to fly one of the planes that took photo images of ground targets -- before and after the U.S. military destroyed them. In his office Wednesday he watched images of Iraq on television.

"I know everything that goes on in the hearts and minds of those pilots as they sit on those carrier decks and runways," Gibbons said. "There are a thousand things racing through their minds -- the mission, everything you did to prepare for it, all the little details."

Like many pilots, Gibbons had a ritual in the quiet few seconds after he strapped himself in before missions. In the red glow of the of the cockpit lights, he took out a photograph of his family and rested it on the kneeboard.

"You realize that all of this is for them," Gibbons said. "Then you hear the radio crackling to life and you just try to get through those first few moments of uncertainty, when you don't know if you are coming back or what."

Nevada lawmakers, along with the majority of the House and Senate in October, voted to authorize use of force in Iraq. Lawmakers felt the weighty responsibility that came with that vote as the war began Wednesday night, Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said.

"This is a very solemn moment whether you voted for the resolution or were opposed to it," Berkley said. Today Democrats who are divided in their support for military action are debating behind the scenes over the wording of another resolution of support for the action in Iraq, Berkley said. Berkley supports a resolution stating clear support for the troops and their mission, she said.

Congress tried to attend to business as usual Wednesday and today. Debate on the fiscal year 2004 budget rages. The Senate on Wednesday voted down an amendment that would allow oil drilling in Alaska.

But war is foremost on everyone's mind. Heavily armed Capitol Police are on high alert, and restrictive access rules are in place.

"Let's hope that the next time we meet that things will be better," a somber Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Wednesday night during opening remarks of his annual summit in the Capitol for black leaders from Nevada.

Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., told the group this morning, "Unfortunately, war has started. War is never a good choice. But sometimes it is the only choice."

Ensign joined a number of senators in a classified meeting Wednesday with Homeland Security Department Secretary Tom Ridge.

"The general thing that I can say is that they're (the department) well prepared," Ensign said. "They've done everything they can, in coordination with the CIA (and) all intelligence, to be as prepared as they can be."

Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., in his first few months as a member of Congress, quietly watched the opening moments of the U.S. offensive in his office, with his wife and daughter, Nicole, a college student.

Porter said he was praying for the troops from Nellis Air Force Base, Indian Springs Air Force field and Fallon Naval Air Station in Nevada. Saddam Hussein forced the United States "to do what we have to do," Porter said.

"The threat to America of chemical weapons and weapons of mass destruction, along with the rape, torture and mutilation of the Iraqi people by this evil dictator must end," Porter said.

Gibbons said he, too, was praying for the troops. He remembers flying through smoke from the burning oil fields, and he recalls the bright flashes and the puffs of smoke near his plane -- anti-aircraft fire.

"This nation is proud of these soldiers and sailors," he said. "This country is behind them 100 percent."