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CNN Live At Daybreak

America's New War: Family Pleas for Peace

Aired September 25, 2001 - 08:55   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: With a high percentage of Americans favoring military action in Afghanistan it's easy to assume that virtually everyone wants to get even with Osama bin Laden or whoever was responsible for the attacks here in the United States.

But as CNN's Maria Hinojosa reports, not everyone is in a vengeful spirit, even those who might have plenty of reason.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The sign of patriotism looms large over the Keane house in Connecticut, a house in mourning over the loss of Richard Keen, a businessman, father of five, a grandfather, a good husband.

JUDY KEANE, WIFE OF VICTIM: He was a peaceful man.

HINOJOSA: And a former soldier.

KEANE: He was a marine and served during the Vietnam conflict.

HINOJOSA: But Judy Keen believes now he would want peace, not war.

KEANE: All I am asking right now is that we be very, very thoughtful and patient and consider all of our options before we plunge headlong into war.

HINOJOSA: In the park outside her home signs from a peace vigil. On the front page of a local newspaper, her opposition to war makes headlines. In her heart, next to sadness, there is fear.

KEANE: I am very, very fearful for my children. I've lost my husband. I don't want to lose my children to a war. And I do not want any other woman anywhere in the world to have to worry about the safety of her children either.

HINOJOSA (on camera): A recent poll shows that 90 percent of Americans support some form of military retaliation against the terrorists or the countries that support them, but not everyone who lost a loved one in the world trade centers wants revenge.

(voice-over): Orlando Rodriguez wrote a letter about war called "Not in Our Son's Name." ORLANDO RODRIGUEZ, FATHER OF VICTIM: Our son died a victim of an inhuman ideology. Our actions should not serve the same purpose.

HINOJOSA: Gregory Elnester (ph) Rodriguez was 31 years old, married just one year, the father of a 10-year-old. He was on the 103rd floor of the first tower hit.

PHYLLIS RODRIGUEZ, MOTHER OF VICTIM: You think at first that it's going to make you feel better to hit the kid who bullied your kid, but if you take a deep breath and think about it, you realize that it is not a productive way to react.

HINOJOSA: But what about so many Americans who feel helpless and angry if the U.S. doesn't strike back.

RODRIGUEZ: When I hear talk of, thoughtless talk, of showing them how strong we are, I feel that -- I see people like my son, who just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, I see people like my son dying in other lands, and that hurts me.

HINOJOSA: Tremendous hurt and pleas from the ones who have lost the most, who grieve now for peace.

Maria Hinojosa, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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