(Columbia) June 27, 2005 - Senator Lindsey Graham made his initial comments when questioning Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing last week, saying that people were starting to question what is happening overseas, "And I’m here to tell you, sir, in the most patriotic state I can imagine, people are beginning to question."

You can call Lucille McKee a critic of the war in Iraq and you can call her a skeptic about the US mission.

Don't call her unpatriotic, "It's our duty to question our leaders. Not to follow blindly."

Don't for a moment suggest McKee, who lives in lower Richland County, doesn't know what it's like to be a soldier. She's an Army veteran and served in the first Gulf War. Husband Ray is also an Army vet and now is a National Guardsman who's spent almost nine months in Iraq.

McKee says Senator Lindsey Graham is right when he says South Carolinians are beginning to question the war effort, "I commend him for rising above the political partisanship and just telling it like it is."

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld appeared on Sunday's Meet the Press, "The allegation that it's some sort of a quagmire just isn't true."

McKee says her husband believes it will take ten, even 20 years to stabilize Iraq, "Because he sees that our presence there is the only thing that's keeping these people from falling into civil war. I think that the people who are still very, very supportive. I think that they want to believe, they have to believe that we are there for a good cause. That their loved ones and friends, their family are there for a good cause. And that's what keeps them going."

She says she's not worried that criticism of the war helps the enemy. She says in fact, it's good for the country, "I know in my heart that I support the troops and I know that it's our duty as Americans to question our government."

Paul Paterson is still living a soldier's life. He served 24 years, six months and three days in the Army. He now commands "US Patriot," which is a store near Ft. Jackson where customers can buy military gear. You can even get your sewing done.

Many of those customers are on active duty. Paterson says he sees no signs support for the war is waning, "We're in direct contact with the military every day. That's who our clientele are. And there's never been anyone coming in here complaining about what's going on, or what they have to do or where they're going."

In Greenville Monday, Graham was sticking with his assessment, "If it's slipping here in South Carolina, the most patriotic state in the nation, that is a sign that it's slipping elsewhere."

Paterson says people understand that success will take time, "You're trying to reform a country that's been under a dictatorship for so long, it's going to take a while. There's a lot of resistance. You got terrorist cells raising hell over there and you just can't wave a magic wand and make everybody accept democracy. You gotta teach them how to do it."

On the other side of the shopping center though, WIS found veterans and family members raising real questions about Iraq. June Samide says her Vietnam veteran husband died from Agent Orange, "They're killing too many off really. Too many's getting killed from the war. And what good is it?" Her current husband, Don Brazelle, is an Air Force veteran, "We need to get the job done and get out as soon as possible."
    
South Carolinians wholeheartedly back their troops, but some say they're not sure whether they can indefinitely back the policy that puts those troops in harm's way.

By Jack Kuenzie
Updated 7:14pm by BrettWitt