Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Media: The Associated Press
Byline:
Date: 25 October 2006
BOSTON_Voters in 139 Massachusetts communities will decide more than
congressional elections at the polls on Nov. 7. They also will consider
calls for an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.
Opinion polls show the increasingly unpopular war contributing to declining
prospects for the Republican Party in nationwide congressional elections.
The referendums, held together with elections, are the work of committed
individuals such as 81-year-old Hamer Lacey, who hauled his broken back and
clipboard to a Gloucester grocery store parking lot last summer, looking for
signatures of residents who shared his fervent opposition to the war in
Iraq.
His work put Gloucester among 139 Massachusetts communities where residents
will vote next month on a nonbinding question calling for an immediate U.S.
withdrawal from Iraq.
Voters in several cities in Wisconsin and Illinois will consider a similar
question.
Organizers said they do not expect the results to turn U.S. policy around.
But they said the outcome could at least make the growing anti-war sentiment
clear to policymakers.
"There's a gap between what the public wants and what public officials
want," said Steve Burns of the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice.
"They're not acting in our name. We hope, in time, we can bring them
around."
Wade Zerkle, executive director of Vets for Freedom, said the referendums
are a publicity stunt, and the outcome will not represent the majority: "I
don't think a ballot referendum in some of the most liberal cities in
America is going to hold much water."
He said most Americans, even those with growing doubts about the war, know
that leaving Iraq prematurely will create a terrorist haven that the U.S.
will have to deal with.
Since the March 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, nearly 2,800
members of the U.S. military have been killed in Iraq, according to an
Associated Press count.
"We're just hoping people will look into their hearts and say, `What is
going on here?'" said Paul Shannon of the American Friends Service
Committee, the Quaker peace group that helped organize the Massachusetts
signature drive. "Are we really willing to throw away more lives tomorrow?
For what?"
In Wisconsin, 10 communities will vote in November on withdrawal. In April,
24 of 32 Wisconsin communities voted in favor of removing U.S. forces.
In Illinois, the question will be considered in Chicago, as well as smaller
cities, including Springfield and Urbana, and about a half-dozen towns.
The list of Massachusetts communities where the question will appear
includes liberal cities such as Boston, Newton and Cambridge, and
communities such as Chicopee, a town in western Massachusetts where Westover
Air Reserve Base is situated.
Berkeley, California, and two Wisconsin communities also will vote on
whether President George W. Bush should be impeached.
Organizers said the results of the referendums cannot be dismissed as the
opinions of a lot of liberals. Burns said six Wisconsin communities that
voted last spring for withdrawal cast their ballots for Bush in 2004.
Lacey said he has been anti-war since his Navy service in World War II, when
he witnessed the destruction in civilian areas of Japan. The retired
pediatrician's signature-gathering was limited to a few hours at a time by
pain from a cracked vertebra, suffered in an auto accident in 2003.
"The whole gist of the Bush presidency is in conflict with what my ideals
are," he said.
Zaida Walters of Houston, whose Marine son was killed in Fallujah, disagreed
with the call to bring the troops home. She said her son, Leroy Sandoval
Jr., was committed to the mission and would believe in it today.
"I think we need to finish what we started," Walters said. "I really do."
Byline:
Date: 25 October 2006
BOSTON_Voters in 139 Massachusetts communities will decide more than
congressional elections at the polls on Nov. 7. They also will consider
calls for an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.
Opinion polls show the increasingly unpopular war contributing to declining
prospects for the Republican Party in nationwide congressional elections.
The referendums, held together with elections, are the work of committed
individuals such as 81-year-old Hamer Lacey, who hauled his broken back and
clipboard to a Gloucester grocery store parking lot last summer, looking for
signatures of residents who shared his fervent opposition to the war in
Iraq.
His work put Gloucester among 139 Massachusetts communities where residents
will vote next month on a nonbinding question calling for an immediate U.S.
withdrawal from Iraq.
Voters in several cities in Wisconsin and Illinois will consider a similar
question.
Organizers said they do not expect the results to turn U.S. policy around.
But they said the outcome could at least make the growing anti-war sentiment
clear to policymakers.
"There's a gap between what the public wants and what public officials
want," said Steve Burns of the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice.
"They're not acting in our name. We hope, in time, we can bring them
around."
Wade Zerkle, executive director of Vets for Freedom, said the referendums
are a publicity stunt, and the outcome will not represent the majority: "I
don't think a ballot referendum in some of the most liberal cities in
America is going to hold much water."
He said most Americans, even those with growing doubts about the war, know
that leaving Iraq prematurely will create a terrorist haven that the U.S.
will have to deal with.
Since the March 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, nearly 2,800
members of the U.S. military have been killed in Iraq, according to an
Associated Press count.
"We're just hoping people will look into their hearts and say, `What is
going on here?'" said Paul Shannon of the American Friends Service
Committee, the Quaker peace group that helped organize the Massachusetts
signature drive. "Are we really willing to throw away more lives tomorrow?
For what?"
In Wisconsin, 10 communities will vote in November on withdrawal. In April,
24 of 32 Wisconsin communities voted in favor of removing U.S. forces.
In Illinois, the question will be considered in Chicago, as well as smaller
cities, including Springfield and Urbana, and about a half-dozen towns.
The list of Massachusetts communities where the question will appear
includes liberal cities such as Boston, Newton and Cambridge, and
communities such as Chicopee, a town in western Massachusetts where Westover
Air Reserve Base is situated.
Berkeley, California, and two Wisconsin communities also will vote on
whether President George W. Bush should be impeached.
Organizers said the results of the referendums cannot be dismissed as the
opinions of a lot of liberals. Burns said six Wisconsin communities that
voted last spring for withdrawal cast their ballots for Bush in 2004.
Lacey said he has been anti-war since his Navy service in World War II, when
he witnessed the destruction in civilian areas of Japan. The retired
pediatrician's signature-gathering was limited to a few hours at a time by
pain from a cracked vertebra, suffered in an auto accident in 2003.
"The whole gist of the Bush presidency is in conflict with what my ideals
are," he said.
Zaida Walters of Houston, whose Marine son was killed in Fallujah, disagreed
with the call to bring the troops home. She said her son, Leroy Sandoval
Jr., was committed to the mission and would believe in it today.
"I think we need to finish what we started," Walters said. "I really do."