Jhonthan Stewart said he doesn’t normally watch television, but his eyes were glued to the screen Saturday night after President Donald Trump’s decision to attack several key nuclear sites in Iran.
“I was terrified,” he told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “You hope for peace.”
Those fears were still evident Sunday morning as the 21-year-old smoked a cigarette before breakfast outside the Hyatt Place hotel in Buckhead.
Trump said the attack, which assisted the Israelis, “completely and totally obliterated” Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities, while critics worry it will draw the U.S. into another Middle East conflict.
Inside the hotel, several people were enjoying fruit, eggs, bacon and coffee less than 12 hours after Trump announced the attacks.
One woman exclaimed, “It was too early in the morning” to think about what had happened, while a group of people stated they hadn’t even had their coffee yet.
Nearby at a breakfast table, Angel Abdel said he saw history repeating itself more than 20 years after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, which started over claims that the country possessed weapons of mass destruction. The Ohio resident was in Atlanta on Sunday during vacation. He questioned the U.S. support of Israel, which he said was “the one who’s making the whole big mess in the Middle East.” Abdel said he wasn’t sure if Iran would strike back, but he wanted to stress one thing.
“Nobody wants or likes war,” he told the AJC.
“That’s exactly right,” exclaimed Tennessee resident Barbara, 63, who was sitting a few feet away with her partner during breakfast. Barbara didn’t want to give her last name, while her partner declined to comment because he works for the U.S. government.
The couple’s fun night had turned to horror Saturday when they got back to their hotel room. After looking at the television, they were frozen.
“We just stood there, and we just couldn’t believe what we were watching, that (Trump) had done something so rash without the approval of Congress,” Barbara told the AJC.
“How much are they going to let him get away with before they do something to get him out of office? I just feel bad for the people and the countries involved. I feel bad for our troops who are over in the Middle East. I mean, I’m sure everything there is on high alert, and it is just a very, very unwise decision.”
Credit: David Aaro / David.Aaro@ajc.com
Credit: David Aaro / David.Aaro@ajc.com
Inside a nearby and newly constructed Publix on Piedmont Road, shoppers went about their day on the quiet Sunday.
As they walked toward the checkout area, a man and his child didn’t want to talk about the Iran strikes. While a couple situated near the entrance, their cart full of grocery supplies, refrained from commenting because of their anger over the situation.
Buckhead resident Gabriel Blunt, 39, was also numb while shopping for some high-fiber pasta inside the store. Though he admitted that focusing on the Middle East is difficult, especially with lengthy work and life-related duties at home.
“I want peace. I’m worried about what’s going on over there. But, also, life goes on over here,” Blunt said.
Other residents from outside Atlanta spoke of their feelings upon hearing news of the nuclear-site bombings. John Jernigan, 77, who lives on Jackson Lake in Butts County, is an Air Force veteran who served in Vietnam.
His first thought on the attacks was why.
“Why didn’t we give the Israelis what they wanted and let them do it?” Jernigan said. “Why didn’t we let them do it?”
He also wondered about what led U.S. officials to make the decision to go in now. Jernigan and his wife, Donna, traveled to Middle Georgia on Sunday to buy fresh peaches at a packing shed in Crawford County west of Macon.
“I can’t make the judgment on … was it right or wrong,” John Jernigan said, adding that he needs to know more of the reasons behind the strikes, further details of which may emerge in the coming days.
Donna Jernigan, 73, who unlike her husband did not vote for Trump, said, “I know why they did it, I just felt like he didn’t have approval from Congress to do it. … I think he did it because he’s getting a lot of praise saying he’ll go down in history for accomplishing this.”
After leaving LA Fitness in Buckhead, 38-year-old resident Sterling said he didn’t want to speculate who was right or wrong following the attack, which he learned about on YouTube on Saturday night.
“I’ll just say for anyone that’s innocent, I feel bad for those people,” he said.
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