Matt McNair

Weekly Vista Staff Writer

A local veteran participated in a real-life civics lesson last month, leading what he called an "informal gathering" of veterans outside a hotel in Rogers.

Bill Williams, Bella Vista Property Owners Association board member and co-owner of the Inn at Bella Vista, joined two other veterans outside the Embassy Suites in Rogers at the Benton County Republican Party's biggest annual fundraiser.

The dinner, themed "Let Freedom Reign," featured United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson. It seemed to Williams and his supporters a good time to air some of their concerns about the state of veterans' affairs in America.

The trio of activists had four specific points of interest for local Republicans and the VA secretary:

* Depleted uranium: Depleted uranium, or "DU," is a component in many military-grade munitions. According to literature shared by Williams, government studies indicate that the "inhalation, ingestion or implantation" of DU compounds can be linked to "long-term health effects including cancers and birth defects," yet the military continues to use weapons that contain DU;

* The current military trend of giving the National Guard a large role in overseas combat;

* A massive review of veterans' disability payments in cases of combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD;

* The Bush Administration's likely veto of a defense appropriations bill that contains language banning the inhumane treatment of enemy combatants in American custody. The bill, with the "anti-torture" rider intact, was sponsored by ex-POW and U.S. Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) and approved by the Senate 90-9.

Williams said the above issues constitute a great disservice to the fighting men and women of the United States by an administration ostensibly pro-military.

"I believe that many of my neighbors, who are Republicans, don't necessarily agree with the Republican Party," he said in a telephone interview.

Ret Miles, Chairman of the Benton County Republican Committee, did not agree with Williams, but said the demonstration was civil and Williams and his fellow vets had certainly erned the right to protest.

"Generally speaking, we go with the party line," said Miles during a telephone interview.

On the question of the so-called "torture rider," Miles asserted that captives taken during the war on terror are generally better treated by American forces than "before by (the terrorists') governments," even with allegations of torture and inhumane treatment.

Of Williams' assertion that many local Republicans would, upon close inspection, have moral qualms with the current administration's policies, Miles concluded that "most Republicans in Benton County trust what É President (Bush) is doing." In complicated matters of policy, "I don't think most people in Benton County are very knowledgeable, including the protesters," he added.

Williams, for his part, insists the GOP fundraiser was a target because it represents the party in power, and his and his comrades' ire is not reserved for the ruling party alone.

"In my mind," he said, noting that protest and activism is about people, not parties, "both national parties are often interested in their agendas, and don't care about the people they serve."