Web site moves front a little closer

Deepa Bharath

Steven Gooden knows what it is to have loved ones fighting a war.

The 28-year-old Newport Beach resident has a brother and sister in

the Persian Gulf, embroiled in a conflict watched by millions across

the globe.

So less than 10 days ago, Gooden started a Web site --

www.godswar.cjb.net -- where people can post messages to soldiers at

war. The troops can also reply to those messages and write to friends

and family back home.

Gooden said he decided rather suddenly to take his patriotic

fervor to cyberspace because he believes that the U.S. troops are out

there “fighting an honorable war.”

“They have a noble cause,” he said. “This is by no means an unjust

war. Our men and women need to hear these messages that encourage

them and give them hope.”

Gooden said the Web site is just starting to take off, but he is

seeing several thousand hits already.

“The kind of messages we’re getting from the citizens to the

soldiers is ‘Hurry back home. Get the job done,’” he said. “The

messages we get from the troops is one of love. They believe they are

doing the right thing. In fact, they are excited about it.”

On the Web site are also Gooden’s views on the current conflict.

He calls it “God’s war.”

“I know a lot of people are against the war,” he said. “But it was

war that liberated African Americans from slavery, and it was war

that liberated our country from England.”

Gooden said he believes that “war brings peace and peace ends

war.”

Several Newport-Mesa reserves are fighting the war in the Persian

Gulf. Among them are Costa Mesa Police Det. Victor Bakkila. A second

officer from the Police Department, Glorioso Namigbas, will leave on

Monday.

Laura Ginther, who works in the Police Department’s Records

section, said she would like to use the Web site to send messages to

the officers, as well as other soldiers.

“I think it’s a great thing to be able to do,” she said. “It

doesn’t take too much to do it, and it could give our troops some

much-needed encouragement.”