A Vietnam veteran, he sees many parallels between the war in Iraq and the Vietnam War. His concern is that war with Iran is a natural progression for many politicians, including John McCain. After noticing that his specific views were not being addressed by existing anti Iraq war sites, he decided to found CAWII. In fact, Marshall's views are somewhat unique as Robert Marshall has been an active Republican and was even the Republican nominee in the 1998 race for an Illinois seat in the House of Representatives.