Wisconsin State Referendum to Bring Our Troops Home

Bring Our Troops Home

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Read the text of the Wisconsin ballot initiatives
Read the text of the Illinois ballot initiatives

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01/06/06: Let Monona Voters Decide

Let Monona Voters Decide


The Capital Times :: EDITORIAL :: 6A
Friday, January 6, 2006

Wisconsin traditionally errs on the side of democracy. That means that, when there is a dispute over the petitions required to place the name of a candidate or a referendum proposal on the ballot, Wisconsinites make every effort to respect the intentions of the citizens who signed the petitions.

The standard is simple and clear: If a sufficient number of Wisconsinites want a candidate or an issue to be considered, the bureaucracy will not use petty excuses to deny democracy.

We recount this well-established standard as a reminder to Monona officials that they have broken faith with Wisconsin traditions and legal precedents by demanding that Monona members of the Bring the Troops Home Coalition must recirculate petitions seeking to place an anti-war referendum on the spring local election ballot.

The coalition gathered 570 signatures, more than enough to meet requirements to place on the ballot the question: "Should the United States bring all military personnel home from Iraq now?"

Under Wisconsin law, however, referendum proposals cannot be phrased as questions. But state law also clearly makes provisions for amending the language of proposals of this kind.

In recent weeks, in other communities where anti-war activists had submitted similar referendum proposals in the form of questions, they were informed of the wording requirements and allowed to adjust the language. So long as the meaning of the proposal is not altered, it has been widely accepted that there is no need to force citizens to recirculate petitions.

With that in mind, the Monona activists have amended their proposal to read: "Resolved: The United States should bring all military personnel home from Iraq now."

This should have settled things.

Unfortunately, Monona City Clerk Karen Eley says that William Cole, the city attorney, has determined that the group must recirculate the petitions. And Monona Mayor Robb Kahl has suggested that the city must follow the city attorney's directive.

The problem here is that Cole is wrong. The city attorney says those who circulated the petitions cannot reword the proposal because the intentions of the signers might be violated. That's simply absurd. The shift that is proposed in the language of the proposal merely turns a question into a statement -- using the same words and expressing the same sentiment. No one could possibly be confused by the change; and no intentions could possibly be violated.

Cole's approach respects neither the law nor its intent -- and it runs the risk of disenfranchising hundreds of Monona citizens who expressed a desire to have the referendum on the ballot as well as thousands who could be denied an opportunity to weigh in on the issue in April. It also opens Monona to possibly long and potentially costly litigation that it would, ultimately, lose.

The Monona City Council needs to intervene. In order to avoid needless legal wrangling, the council should accept the amended proposal and take the steps needed to ensure that it ends up on the April ballot.

That's precisely what Ald. Doug Wood wants to do. "The way I look at it, they got enough signatures," says Wood, who plans to ask the council to use its own authority to place the anti-war referendum on the April ballot. "The people who signed this wanted it on the ballot and it's being rejected more or less on a technicality."

The rest of the council should embrace Wood's common-sense response -- not merely to avoid legal fights but to respect the best intentions of the political process.

As Joy First, one of the organizers of the Monona petition drive, says, "It's an important issue. I think it should come before the voters in a democracy."

The question now is whether a majority of the Monona council feels, as Wood does, that their city is a place where democracy is practiced Wisconsin-style. If they do, they will clear the unnecessary roadblock that has been erected by ill-informed officials and allow the voters to have their say.

01/11/06: Mt. Horeb gathers anti-war signatures

Mt. Horeb gathers anti-war signatures


By Ann Marie Ames
Correspondent for The Capital Times

MOUNT HOREB - It was an emotionally and physically painful couple of days, pounding the pavement and knocking on doors. But Ken Scott thinks he collected enough signatures to make it possible for Mount Horeb residents to vote on a resolution in April on whether the United States should bring troops home from Iraq.

"My feet would ache, and I had to take Ibuprofen," Scott said of the five days he spent collecting the 350 signatures. "But it got to the point that I was grateful that I had limbs that could ache after seeing what my fellow Americans have gone through. It gets to be a very philosophical experience, collecting signatures."

Village Clerk/Treasurer Cheryl Sutter confirmed to The Capital Times that a petition had been turned in to her. Sutter explained that she has 10 days to confirm that the signatures all belong to voting age residents of the village. If the signatures are indeed valid, the petition will proceed to the Feb. 1 Village Board meeting. At that time the board could choose to pass the resolution itself, or the board could turn the resolution to a referendum for village residents on April 4.

Scott said he had been "beating himself up" over not having started a petition in Mount Horeb months ago when he saw Madison residents collecting signatures for a similar petition over the summer. Then, at a Southwest Wisconsin Area Progressives' meeting last month, Scott heard fellow Mount Horeb resident Steve Books tell the crowd he thought a petition for a referendum for troop withdrawal could work in Mount Horeb.

"I just had to join in," said Scott. "I knew I had no choice. You try to imagine the misfortunes that may have been avoided if communities had spoken up about the Vietnam War 10 years earlier than they did."

Books, Scott and others got started with a petition for a referendum question asking voters: "Should the United States begin an immediate withdrawal of all military personnel from Iraq now?"

By last Thursday the group had 50 of the 343 signatures required by state statutes for a citizen group to send a question to referendum.

But then they found out that Monona City Clerk Karen Eley declared an identical petition invalid in that community because it was in the form of a question rather than a statement. Eley told Monona's Bring Our Troops Home Coalition to change the wording, but on Tuesday night City Attorney Bill Cole declared that the change was a "substantive" one, and that a new petition would have to be circulated.

This left Books and his group in a quandary.

While a referendum has been written in the form of a question in some communities throughout Wisconsin, they didn't want to risk getting overruled like the group in Monona did.

Scott said it was a "painful" decision, but the Mount Horeb group chose to scrap its original petition and head back out to collect signatures on a new petition that read, "Resolved: The United States should begin an immediate withdrawal of all military personnel from Iraq now."

The group worked throughout the weekend and collected the last of the required signatures outside of a Plan Commission meeting Monday night.

If Sutter finds that not all of the 343 of the signatures are valid, she will send the petition back to Books and the other petitioners. At that point the time frame necessary to get the petition on the April 4 ballot will have passed, and the referendum will have to go on next November's ballot.

Published: January 11, 2006

01/16/06 WAR TO BE ON BALLOTS IN STATE ; RESIDENTS OF MANY COMMUNITIES WILL BE ABLE TO VOTE ON WHETHER THE U.S. SHOULD PULL IT

Wisconsin State Journal Madison, Wis.: Jan 16, 2006 pg. B.1

In the spring of 1968, Madison was a hub of antiwar sentiment and the only place in the state that residents could vote in a referendum asking for the withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam.

But when the April election is held this year, Madison won't be going it alone.

From rural towns to some of the state's most urban communities, referendums will be held asking that the U.S. remove its troops from Iraq.

"People expect Madison to vote on it, but to see it on the ballot in Kewaunee and Algoma, that's a really significant development," said Steve Burns of the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice. "People all over the state have picked up the call."

At least 15 communities will have referendums, and more communities could join the list in the next few weeks. On Tuesday, city councils in Monona and Watertown will consider referendum requests, while the Mount Horeb Village Board will consider adding an April 4 referendum at its Feb. 1 meeting.

The requests are the result of petition drives in each community.

"The hard part was finding people at home. But when you did find people at home, the majority were willing to sign," said Ken Scott, who helped collect 350 signatures in four days in Mount Horeb. "I was pleasantly surprised."

And Mount Horeb isn't even the smallest Dane County community involved in the process.

In the town of Vermont in western Dane County, 170 signatures were collected. Retired farmer and UW-Madison agriculture professor David Stanfield said he got signatures from both sides of the political aisle.

"It didn't seem to be a Republican or Democratic political thing. They seemed to be equally worried about things," Stanfield said. "What happens on election day, I don't know."

The 1968 referendum attempt in Madison failed 57-43 percent.The April election will feature races for town, village and school boards, city councils and mayoral races.

In Monona, where a school referendum could also be on the ballot, Ald. Doug Wood has proposed that the City Council vote to put a "bring home the troops" referendum on the ballot. A petition with 570 signatures was denied by the city clerk because of its wording, and organizers decided not to recollect the signatures.

"I think putting the question on (the ballot) furthers the wishes of those who signed it," Wood said. "This proposal is not saying, 'What is the position of the City Council?' It's asking for citizen input, to get their views."

The state's largest city, Milwaukee, will hold a referendum in November.

Some petitions have been questioned by local officials for wording the ballot measures in the form of a question instead of an affirmative statement.

In Watertown, one of the larger cities involved in the push for an April referendum, petitioners amended the wording of the petition without throwing out the 986 signatures they collected in November and December. But Ald. Norman Bartel has drafted a resolution asking for a referendum, which wouldn't require the petition.

"I think people will be surprised in a conservative community how much support there is for the referendum," said Penny Eiler of the Watertown Peace and Democracy Coalition.

In the town of Couderay in northern Wisconsin's Sawyer County, 14 signatures were collected, two more than were needed.

Officials, however, say they don't want a referendum and are trying to determine if state law requires a town to hold a referendum even with a petition.

"We have no idea what to do," said Town Chairman James Bassett, who uses his home computer to print ballots. "We can move fast when we have to, but we want to do what's right."

Those pushing for the referendums say they hope that if the April referendums are successful, it will encourage more referendums in other parts of the state and send a message to the state's congressional delegation.

"I do believe the American people are fed up with this war, and this effort is a vehicle to express that discontent," said Fred Juergens, president of the Citizens United of Union/Evansville.

BARRY ADAMS

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01/18/06 Monona Gives Voters A Chance

Monona Gives Voters A Chance

Peace Group's Iraq Referendum On Ballot

The Capital Times :: METRO :: C1

Wednesday, January 18, 2006
By Samara Kalk Derby The Capital Times
MONONA

Voters here will get the chance to weigh in on a referendum to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq.

After weeks of setbacks for peace activists, the Monona City Council voted 5-1 Tuesday night to allow the "bring the troops home" referendum question on the city's April 4 ballot.

Earlier in the day the Monona Peace Coalition filed suit to get the City Council to reach the same conclusion.

"Now we have to do a lot of community education and work to get it to pass," said Joy First, one of three members of the coalition, which organized the petition drive and collected more than 570 signatures last month.

City Clerk Karen Eley originally denied the referendum because it was worded as a question instead of a statement. Under Wisconsin law referendum proposals cannot be phrased as questions. But the law also makes provisions for amending the language.

However, when the activists amended the referendum to read as a statement, Monona City Attorney William Cole said they had changed the meaning and that a new petition would need to be circulated. The activists declined.

In the end, the council left the original language alone.

The Monona referendum will read: "Should the United States bring all military personnel home from Iraq now?"

Cole said today that the question is legal when adopted by the council, and that the law requiring an affirmative statement only applies to direct legislation.

At least 15 Wisconsin communities, including Madison, will have anti-war referendums on their spring ballots, and more cities could follow suit.

Nine people spoke in favor of putting the referendum on the Monona ballot Tuesday. Another 16 registered in support but did not speak.

One Monona resident, Dan Long, spoke against it, encouraging supporters to contact Wisconsin's congressional delegation instead.

Long also took a shot at Ald. Doug Wood, who sponsored the resolution to put the referendum on the ballot, and Ald. Peter McKeever, who spoke in favor of the move.

"If you really do love Madison politics, you can move there," he said.

Throughout the controversy, Monona Mayor Robb Kahl stuck by the city attorney's decision. He stressed that personal politics played no role in his position.

"Believe me, this is not what I want to be spending city time on," Kahl said.

When people stop him in the supermarket, they want to talk about Monona Drive or the city's parks, he said.

"If you called (U.S. Sen.) Russ Feingold and asked him what he was going to do about the potholes on Monona Drive, he would look at you like you were crazy," Kahl said.

Monona Peace Coalition member Christine Hrenak called the war in Iraq a personal issue for her, in that it diverts money from education and social services on both a state and federal level.

Hrenak, a single mother of two, has been on food stamps and has received state assistance for health care and day care.

"This is a local issue," she said. "It affects us personally in Monona."

Ald. Lisa Nelson, the only council member not to vote with the majority, said she doesn't agree with pulling American troops out of Iraq immediately.

"If you think putting this on the ballot in Monona is going to change the world, well it won't," she said.

\ E-mail: skalk@madison.com

01/18/06 MONONA VOTERS WILL HAVE SAY ON IRAQ TROOPS (FIRST EDITION) ; MONONA TO VOTE ON IRAQ TROOPS

Wisconsin State Journal Madison, Wis.: Jan 18, 2006 pg. B.1

Bypassing problems with a petition, the Monona City Council on Tuesday voted to place a referendum asking whether U.S. troops should be immediately withdrawn from Iraq on the April 4 ballot.

The council's 5-1 decision means Monona voters will join at least 15 other Wisconsin communities in answering whether the United States should bring all troops in Iraq home now.

The vote renders moot a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Dane County Circuit Court. The suit asked a judge to order the Monona city clerk to certify the petition for direct legislation that was filed by Monona members of the Bring the Troops Home Coalition, and asked the judge to compel the council to either adopt the resolution or refer it to voters.

The petition was filed Dec. 13. But Monona City Clerk Karen Eley ruled the petition was not valid because it did not include an option for the council to adopt the resolution itself and because it was incorrectly worded in the form of a question rather than a statement.

A member of the coalition said Tuesday that the coalition likely will drop the suit.

Several council members said they believed enough people signed the petition for the council to put the question on the ballot, even if there were questions about the legality of the direct legislation components.

"I'm prepared to sign this because 570 people want it," said Ald. Peter McKeever.

"This resolution is not asking this council to take a position on the war," said Ald. Douglas Wood. "It's asking the council to let the people's voice be heard."

However, Ald. Lisa Nelson said the council should not take action on the referendum without a valid petition.

"The political objective is not going to be achieved by putting this issue on the ballot," Nelson said. "This is about process. You have to follow the rules."

In Watertown on Tuesday, the City Council voted against placing the referendum on the April ballot. The Watertown Peace and Democracy Coalition has collected 986 signatures for similar direct legislation. Ald. Norman Bartel asked the City Council to bypass the petition process and put the referendum on the ballot.

In a 5-4 vote, the council determined that the war was not an appropriate subject for council consideration. However, the question could still end up on the ballot if the petition drive is successful.

Other cities that will have some form of the "Bring Our Troops Home Now" resolution on their ballots in April include Madison, Evansville, Sturgeon Bay and Kewaunee.

Peter Cameron, Elizabeth Wachowski, Ed Treleven

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01/25/06 AS CITIZENS SPEAK AGAINST IRAQ WAR, WASHINGTON WILL HAVE TO PAY ATTENTION, by Joy First

Madison Capital Times Madison, Wis.: Jan 25, 2006 pg. A.9

Dear Editor: I want to thank the Monona City Council for passing the resolution proposed by Doug Wood to get the referendum on the ballot in Monona to bring our troops home and bring an end to the illegal and immoral war in Iraq.

The council did the right thing. Twenty-three volunteers collected 570 signatures from citizens of Monona who want the opportunity to voice their opposition to the war.

One alderperson said that having this resolution on the ballot will not do anything to stop the war. I strongly disagree with her. It is the power of the people that makes this country strong. We must claim that power by speaking out against the war.

Though voting to bring the troops home in and of itself will not stop the war, I believe that when almost 30 municipalities in Wisconsin vote to bring the troops home it will send a strong message to Washington that cannot be ignored.

But we have to do more than vote in April to bring the troops home. It takes all of us speaking out in different ways that adds up to a powerful movement to stop the war.

We should not be there. We are occupiers in Iraq, and 82 percent of Iraqis want us out of their country. The majority of Americans also want the war to end. We don't liberate people by killing 30,000 to 100,000 of their citizens. This war is making the world less safe every day. Not one more person should die in this war. Not one more dollar should be spent.

Each and every person who sees the insanity of this war must speak out. We need to march in the streets, write letters to Congress and the president, protest at military recruiting stations and government offices, hold candlelight vigils and participate in acts of nonviolent civil resistance.

We need to talk to our neighbors, our friends and our families about why this war is wrong - speaking out loud and clear. All of these actions add up and will raise the consciousness of others. Soon the powers in Washington will not be able to ignore us.

Thanks to the City Council for giving the people of Monona a way to speak out against the war. Please vote in Monona and other communities across the state to bring our troops home now. If you live in a community where the referendum to bring the troops home will not be on your ballot, please contact the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice at www.wnpj.org to find out how you can work to get this on the ballot in your community for the November election.

Let us all continue to speak out ever more loudly and clearly against the war in Iraq. We must not stop until our sons and daughters are safe at home and we are providing support to Iraq to rebuild their war-torn country.

As Martin Luther King said, "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." Let us not remain silent. Each voice is a cry in the wilderness for peace that cannot be ignored.

Joy First, Monona

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01/26/06 Wisconsin towns put war on ballot

Chicago Tribune, January 26, 2006, Thursday

LA CROSSE, Wis. -- At 79, Al Knorr could fill his days in the recliner with televised junk food, watching Oprah Winfrey and Judge Judy and yelling "big money, big money!" when "Wheel of Fortune" comes on.

But twice every weekday, Knorr dons his black snowmobile mittens and insulated shirt and heads to the busiest intersections in town, where he stands as a solitary street-corner sentry against the Iraq war.

Knorr's cardboard "STOP THE WAR" placard on a wooden broomstick draws honks and thumbs-up signals from some rush-hour drivers and abuse from others, such as the guy in the white pickup truck who rolled down his window, flipped Knorr the finger and called him a piece of excrement.

"It's almost always a young kid in a pickup truck," shrugged the World War II veteran and retired clinical social worker.

In Wisconsin, Knorr is part of an often emotional conversation about the war in Iraq. The grass-roots debate, though, is gaining focus and momentum in La Crosse and at least 19 other communities where voters will be asked April 4 whether the United States should bring the troops home now.

The results, of course, will carry no force of law. But successful local petitions to put the question on ballots around Wisconsin have given the issue added political currency, months ahead of the midterm congressional elections in November.

The move to put the troop measure to voters in La Crosse, Madison and other communities is "really aimed at the Wisconsin congressional delegation," said Steve Burns of the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice, which has coordinated the signature-gathering with the Wisconsin Green Party.

"We think this could really be a wake-up call for the congressmen," Burns said.

Last year U.S. Sen. Russell Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat, called for a removal of all troops by the end of 2006--the first senator to do so. In November, Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) called for a quick pullout of troops. Last week, Murtha said "mounting pressure from constituents" will force a re-election-minded Congress to demand the withdrawal of most troops in advance of the November elections.

City councils across the nation, including Chicago's, have approved resolutions either opposing the war or calling for an immediate troop withdrawal.

In Illinois, the Rockford-area township of Harlem has authorized a Nov. 1 troop withdrawal question to be placed on the March 21 primary ballot. Communities in Vermont last year gave voice to local sentiment on the war through town hall meetings. The upcoming votes in Wisconsin mirror that.

The Bush administration has argued repeatedly that setting a withdrawal date would aid insurgents and undermine prospects for a peaceful Iraq. The Pentagon has announced plans for a gradual troop reduction, but that drawdown has been criticized by some--including Murtha--as insufficient.

The issue has proved awkward for Democrats, most of whom have not endorsed the positions taken by Feingold and Murtha. Many Democrats say it would be irresponsible to pull out until they are convinced Iraq's government and military can maintain order.

Wisconsin is a state with a rich history of political activism, driven most recently by the liberal reputation of the capital city, Madison. During World War I, Wisconsin Republican Sen. Robert LaFollette led congressional opposition to the war, and he was branded a traitor by some in his home state.

Wisconsin remains sharply divided. The state went Democratic in the past two presidential elections, but by slim margins. A recent poll indicated 49 percent of residents support a quick withdrawal from Iraq.

Nationally, support for the war has been dropping, but the question of pulling the troops out has proved troublesome, even for opponents of the war.

In the Mississippi River city of La Crosse, a handsome, blue-collar community of 51,000 people, the effort to put the question on the ballot was not embraced by its Common Council. Aldermen could not keep the issue off the ballot because supporters had gathered the legally required signatures to qualify for a spot, but they did state their opposition to the pullout.

"It's very reckless. The job's not done yet," said Ald. Tom Sweeney, a retired Navy reservist who said he sees little point in the vote.

"It's sad because it has no bearing," Sweeney said.

That view is disputed by those who welcome the opportunity to speak out. Brigitte Murphy, a La Crosse jewelry store bookkeeper who grew up in Nazi Germany and lost a brother and sister in World War II, said she has not decided how she will vote.

"I cringe every time I see the news of another boy killed in Iraq," said Murphy, who moved to the U.S. in 1954. "If our leaders had to send their children to Iraq, perhaps they would find a different way of doing things."

Fifty Wisconsin service members have died in the war. While Feingold has taken the Senate lead in promoting a troop withdrawal, protesters demonstrated last week in front of the office of Wisconsin's other senator, Herb Kohl, a Democrat up for re-election, demanding that he advocate a quick pullout.

In the Door County community of Sturgeon Bay, artist Audrey Off said she believes "deep down" that pulling the troops out is "the right thing to do."

"But I don't think it's going to be pragmatic to pull them out. . . . We're stuck," Off said.

Burns and others make no projections on how the issue will fare, especially in parts of the state that President Bush won in 2004.

In La Crosse, Al Knorr said he appreciates the responses he gets, from the encouragement of a registered nurse who cheers him on to the bitter comments from a soldier's father who has accused Knorr of undermining the troops, including his son.

"People over there are fighting for the country, and I feel I need to do my little bit fighting for the country too," he said.

Knorr, who turns 80 in three months, said he has no plans to stop his twice-daily vigil.


Tim Jones

02/02/06 IRAQ WITHDRAWAL REFERENDUM TO BE ON BALLOT IN MT. HOREB

Madison Capital Times Madison, Wis.: Feb 2, 2006 pg. B.6

Mount Horeb is the latest community to schedule a spring referendum on whether U.S. troops should be brought home from Iraq right now.

The Village Board unanimously voted to put the following statement on the April 4 ballot: "Resolved: The United States should begin an immediate withdrawal of all military personnel from Iraq now."

At least 15 other Wisconsin communities, including Madison and Monona, have scheduled referendums on the question.

Resident Steve Books, one of those responsible for organizing a petition drive in December, said the Southwest Area Progressives organization will spend the next months putting out information and bringing in speakers about the war in Iraq.

Mount Horeb voters will also elect two School Board members and three village trustees on April 4.

Ann Marie Ames

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02/05/06 State a test site' for referendums on the war; Growing wave of local votes has drawn interest

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Milwaukee, Wis.: Feb 5, 2006 pg. B.1

A growing movement of local referendums on the Iraq war is making a name for Wisconsin in a way that proponents see as an achievement, but critics regard as an embarrassment.

Depending on the outcome of referendums scheduled so far in 21 communities, including Milwaukee, anti-war activists in other states might follow Wisconsin's lead in using the ballot box to gauge opposition to the war.

"We're looking at Wisconsin, in some ways, as kind of a test site," said Scott McLarty, spokesman at the Green Party's national headquarters in Washington, D.C.

The outside attention raises the stakes in referendum campaigns that otherwise are intended only to send a symbolic message about whether Wisconsin voters think U.S. troops should withdraw from Iraq.

In addition to Milwaukee, the question will appear on ballots this April or November in Madison, Whitefish Bay, La Crosse and several smaller communities.

Some critics of the anti-war effort are preparing to get into the trenches and campaign vigorously against the ballot measures.

"We're going to turn it into a positive," said Chris Muller, chairman of the La Crosse County Republican Party, whose leadership sees the referendum as an attempt to put partisan politics above national security in the U.S. war on terrorism.

"We want to send a very strong message to the troops," Muller said.

Although the referendum idea was borrowed from Vermont after anti- war proposals were passed at town hall meetings there, Wisconsin is believed to be the only state where activists in significant numbers have gained access to the ballot box.

"I think it's kind of embarrassing, quite honestly," said Rick Wiley, executive director of the Wisconsin Republican Party.

Under state law, any referendum question can be brought before voters in a city or village through a petition signed by 15% of the number of voters who turned out locally in the most recent election for governor.

A common council or village board also can vote to place a question on the ballot, which is what happened in Milwaukee after activists there fell short of the 21,000 signatures they needed to collect.

In some communities where enough signatures have been collected, local officials have injected themselves into the situation anyway, in some cases leading to debates about whether the petitioners are truly seeking democracy or division.

In Watertown, aldermen have refused to put the measure on the ballot and now are being challenged in court.

Still, new petition drives are being contemplated in other cities or villages by activists hoping to get on the ballot in November, when Milwaukee's proposal will appear.

A group in Glendale, for example, plans to start circulating petitions this spring.

"Let the people have a voice," said Glendale petition organizer Gigi Pomerantz, a nurse practitioner. "I think it's very patriotic."

Win or lose, war protesters say they are happy that Wisconsin communities are giving residents a chance to sound off and showing other states a new method of registering support or opposition to the war.

Steve Burns, coordinator of the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice, said that although he expects some referendums to fail, he does not view that as a loss.

"We're leading the country," Burns said. "Whatever the results, we've accomplished something if we give people the right to vote."

Even some who oppose the idea of pulling out of Iraq are upbeat about the idea of putting the issue up to a popular vote.

William West, a leader of the Wisconsin American Legion, which represents 74,000 veterans, said that as long as the anti-war crowd does not resort to criticizing U.S. soldiers, he has no objection to people casting ballots.

"That's part of free speech," West said. "It's every citizen's right."

The Shorewood Village Board is scheduled to decide Monday whether to allow an April referendum, after petitioners were required to rewrite their proposal in the form of an affirmative statement rather than a question a technicality that has been raised elsewhere, too.

In Watertown, aldermen have refused to put the issue on the ballot, even though petitioners corrected the wording on their request and the city clerk has validated the 980 signatures that were collected.

By a narrow 5-4 margin, the Common Council voted to deny the request on the grounds that U.S. foreign policy in Iraq is not a suitable question for a local referendum.

Members of the Watertown Peace & Democracy Coalition responded by filing suit against the city, with a hearing scheduled for Tuesday before a judge in Jefferson County Circuit Court.

Watertown Mayor John David said the dispute has split the community, because many war veterans and other residents believe a referendum would be disrespectful toward U.S. soldiers fighting in Iraq.

"It's really a gut-wrenching issue in this community," he said.

If the anti-war referendum is allowed, David added, some city leaders also fear that future ballots will be cluttered with frivolous ideas.

To which a local activist responds: What would be the harm?

Penny Eiler, a member of the Peace & Democracy Coalition, said the war referendum proposal has fueled a healthy debate around town. And she believes other ballot measures would get people equally engaged in issues that interest them.

"It would be democracy breaking out all over," she said. "Would this be a problem?"

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02/08/06 COUNCIL ORDERED TO CONSIDER IRAQ ISSUE ; JUDGE RULES IN FAVOR OF WATERTOWN PEACE GROUP

Wisconsin State Journal Madison, Wis.: Feb 8, 2006 pg. A.1

A Jefferson County judge Tuesday ordered the Watertown City Council to revisit the issue of a referendum on recalling troops from Iraq.

Ruling in favor of a local group's lawsuit, Reserve Judge Patrick L. Snyder, of Waukesha, ordered the council to act by Monday.

The council, which could appeal the order, approve a resolution on troop recall or put the question on the ballot, will meet in special session tonight to consider the issue.

David Austin, a lawyer for the Watertown Peace and Democracy Coalition, which filed the lawsuit after the council decided in January that such a referendum was not a legislative matter, said it appears the city may ask for a stay of the order while it considers an appeal.

"It was pretty straightforward," said Austin of the Tuesday morning session, where Snyder said the question is a "proper legislative act." The arguments on the issue have not changed, he said.

In the council's January decision, discussion focused on whether the referendum was "outside the authority of the governing body," which would meet one of four exceptions that make it inappropriate for referendum.

Mike Hoppenrath, the Watertown city clerk, said a closed session of the council will be held starting at 5 p.m. today to discuss whether "to appeal or not to appeal. If we don't appeal it, then we will come into open session and discuss the resolution. Our only choices (then) are to approve the resolution or go to referendum."

The difference is delicate. If the council passes a resolution, it short-circuits community discussion leading up to a spring election, which is a goal of the group that gathered 900 signatures in favor of a referendum.

If the council passes a resolution, "that is just the opinion of nine people on the council. If we have a referendum, it is a chance for the population to speak," said Penny Eiler, a coalition organizer.

The initiative reads: "Be it resolved, the city of Watertown urges the United States to begin an immediate withdrawal of its troops from Iraq, starting with the National Guard and Reserves."

There are at least 15 so-called "troop votes" on referendums around the state, including Evansville, Madison and Monona. Because referendums are municipal in origin, the state Elections Board does not keep track of how many local elections will feature the question. The Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice was keeping an unofficial count, though the group's Web page has not been updated recently.

The Evansville City Council next week will address another Iraq- related referendum request, this one the idea of Grace Baptist Church minister Ronald Gay and his neighbor, Tony Ryerson.

Their referendum is in the form of a proclamation, stating: "We, the citizens of Evansville, Wisconsin, USA, while not necessarily fans of war, nor supporting or understanding every decision of this war, do desire to express by public referendum our strong support for our honorable president's leadership, and to express to our honorable men and women in uniform our great esteem and appreciation for their dangerous sacrifices on our behalf, as they labor without rest to protect our freedoms, and our way of life against the unfathomable wickedness of the forces of terror, and we desire our president and troops to not quit this fight until unquestioned victory is clearly won."

Gay said Tuesday he and Ryerson gathered more than the 206 signatures needed to place the question on the spring ballot. Evansville Mayor Janis Ringhand said the council will take up the issue Tuesday.

"I wanted this because the other referendum doesn't give us a chance to say our point of view, which is that we support our president and our troops," Gay said. "We don't want any of this half- won war junk we have been doing for the past 50 years."

He said his effort was on his own behalf as a citizen and was a church initiative.

Referendums on Iraq

The Madison referendum reads: "Resolved, the United States should bring all military personnel home from Iraq now."

The Monona referendum asks: "Should the United States bring all military personnel home from Iraq now?"

In La Crosse, where the City Council voted 10-6 to put the resolution on the ballot, then voted 13-3 against the resolution, the wording is: "Should the United States begin an immediate withdrawal of its troops from Iraq, starting with the National Guard and Reserves."

And in Evansville, the referendum reads: "It is hereby resolved that the people of the city of Evansville, Wisconsin, request that the United States government immediately begin an orderly and rapid withdrawal of all its personnel from Iraq beginning with the National Guard and Reserves."

GEORGE HESSELBERG

http://ezproxy.matcmadison.edu/login?url=http://ezproxy.matcmadison.edu:2065/pqdweb?did=983763581&sid=1&Fmt=3&clientId=8358&RQT=309&VName=PQD

02/17/06 Wis. Referendums Call for Troop Withdrawal

The Washington Post
Friday, February 17, 2006

KEWAUNEE, Wis. -- Peace activist Jill Bussiere wants the United States to bring its troops home from Iraq immediately, so she went door-to-door in this community in the hopes of getting others to join her cause.

Bussiere helped organize a petition drive that resulted in a referendum on Iraq being put on the ballot during Kewaunee's upcoming spring election. It asks whether the city's leaders should urge the U.S. to begin an immediate withdrawal of its troops, beginning with the National Guard and Reserves.

"Is it ever practical to try and stop a war?" asked Bussiere, 51. "But isn't it the right thing to do? Isn't it our duty?"

Kewaunee, a city of 3,000 on the shores of Lake Michigan, is one of 22 cities, villages and towns in Wisconsin that have an Iraq referendum on their April 4 ballots _ elections usually dominated by local races for mayors, city councils and school boards. Fifty troops from Wisconsin have died in Iraq since the invasion nearly three years ago.

The effort in Wisconsin _ in tiny villages like Frederic and Ephraim and the larger cities of Madison and La Crosse _ is designed to influence later races for Congress, said coordinator Steve Burns at the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice in Madison.

Organizers, mostly associated with Wisconsin's Green Party, gathered enough signatures on petitions to put the issue before voters. Supporters do not expect to get the attention of President Bush, who has rejected calls for a troop withdrawal date.

"The plan is to win these referendums in diverse areas of the state so they are not just coming from liberal Madison," said Burns, a Green Party activist. "We all remember the 2004 presidential election when they spent more time talking about the Vietnam War than they did talking about the Iraq war. We don't want that to happen again."

City councils in other communities around the nation have approved measures opposing the war or calling for troops to come home.

Harlem Township in northern Illinois authorized a Nov. 1 troop withdrawal question for the March 21 ballot. In Burlington, Vt., anti-war activists gathered enough signatures on petitions to ask voters to urge the city to work to prevent overseas deployments of the Vermont Air National Guard. Last March, at dozens of annual town meetings in Vermont, communities voted on the war, mostly backing resolutions critical of it.

Seven of the Wisconsin votes are scheduled in the northeastern part of the state, in Kewaunee and Door counties. Bush won both in his re-election.

In La Crosse, a divided city council forwarded the issue to the ballot, but also voted 13-3 to oppose immediate withdrawal from Iraq. Tom Sweeney, a town alderman, said the referendum was misguided.

"We don't win our wars when we don't let the generals run them," said Sweeney, a businessman who spent 25 years in the Navy or the Navy Reserves. "This is going to have about as much weight as that pebble I am looking at in my driveway. No matter which way it goes, it is going to be irrelevant."

In Watertown, troops who served in Iraq told city council they opposed putting the issue on the ballot and spoke passionately about how their work was important. The council ultimately decided the issue wasn't proper, but a judge later ordered it to put the measure on the ballot or adopt it. The referendum will appear on the April 4 ballot.

"I don't know how it is going to turn out," said Hiroshi Kanno, clerk of Newport, which has about 250 eligible voters near the tourist mecca of Wisconsin Dells. "We are a relatively conservative area. Maybe it will gin up the election a bit."

03/11/06 Sweet Victory: The Resolutions Roll In

Published on Saturday, March 11, 2006 by the Nation

by Katrina vanden Heuvel and Sam Graham-Felsen

No matter how many polls show that the majority of American citizens (and even troops) want a speedy withdrawal from Iraq, the stay-the-course consensus continues to suffocate DC.

Yet, while politicians may be able to ignore polls, it's harder for them to ignore concerted, collective action in the form of official resolutions. On the eve of the third anniversary of the Iraq war, resolutions from America's largest cities, labor organizations, and religious groups are calling for our troops to come home.

The nationwide push for local resolutions is being led by Cities for Progress, a project of the Institute for Policy Studies, which also works towards passing local bills on extending health care benefits, establishing living wages and opposing the Patriot Act. The movement has grown considerably since its inception last March, when dozens of towns and cities in Vermont first called for withdrawal. Currently, 76 municipalities including Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Baltimore, and Sacramento, have joined in.

And some of the smaller towns that have passed resolutions are making a big impact as well. In December, the town of Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania passed a resolution in support of Rep. Jack Murtha's plan for US troops to come home from Iraq in six months. That month, Wikinsburg's Rep. Mike Doyle announced that he was co-sponsoring Murtha's bill.

"These resolutions are an expression of the will of the people that is simply not being heard on Capitol Hill," said Karen Dolan, director of Cities for Progress. "This is direct democracy, and it gives average Americans a microphone to say 'I am frustrated, I want my tax dollars spent in my own town, I want our children back home.' It's a unique and exciting new avenue for regular people to make their voices heard."

This Spring, in Wisconsin, 31 different communities will have a referendum on the ballot. "Polls are a passive conduit, but when citizens are out going door-to-door, expressing serious commitment, getting thousands of signatures, and getting resolutions passed, it sends a direct message to members of Congress," said George Martin of Coalition for a Just Peace, which is behind the Wisconsin resolution push. Martin says the antiwar movement is flourishing on the local level because residents are increasingly disturbed by the way the Iraq effort is depleting much-needed local resources. "It's very clearly illustrated by the Katrina tragedy. Local guard and reserves are supposed to serve their own communities and they weren't available because of Iraq. Equipment that could have been used to dig dirt for the levees was in Iraq," said Martin.

Organized labor and religious groups have joined in on the resolutions movement as well. Last July, the AFL-CIO called for "the rapid return of US troops" and a rapidly growing list of local, state, and national labor organizations have passed similar resolutions.

Last October, the United Methodist Church passed a resolution calling for withdrawal. "It is my hope and prayer that our statement against the war in Iraq will be heard loud and clear by our fellow United Methodists, President Bush and Vice President Cheney," said Jim Winkler, General Secretary of the UMC's Board of Church and Society. "Conservative and liberal board members worked together to craft a strong statement calling for the troops to come home and for those responsible for leading us into this disastrous war to be held accountable."

A month later, the Union of Reform Judaism--which, with 1.5 million members, represents the largest Jewish movement in the US--voted to bring the troops home.

Meanwhile, scores of prominent individuals within the religious community have publicly voiced opposition to the continuing occupation.

"The role the faith community has to play in social change is critical; we were major players in the movements for civil rights and workers rights," says Peter Lems of the American Friends Service Committee. "It can't really happen without us, and leaders are starting to speak out and encourage political action. We may not prevail on the day of the third anniversary, but we'll be several steps closer."

As resolutions from towns, cities, labor, and religious organizations continue to pile up, it is becoming abundantly clear that those who want to retain their seats in '06 will have no choice but to listen.

Sam Graham-Felsen, a freelance journalist and documentary filmmaker, contributes to The Nation's new blog, The Notion, and co-writes Sweet Victories with Katrina vanden Heuvel.

Copyright © 2006 The Nation

03/16/06: Years of war alter mood in Baraboo

Positions vary, but all support troops

By BILL GLAUBER

 Posted: Mar. 16, 2006

 

 BARABOO - Chris Nielsen drove through tears that day last August. He was a

 cop and a dad, behind the wheel of a police cruiser, leading a three-bus

 convoy filled with troops from the Wisconsin Army National Guard's Company

 C, 2nd Battalion, 128th Infantry.

 

His son was on one of those buses. So were other kids he knew.

 

  They rolled from the local armory, past hundreds of yellow ribbons that he

 and his wife and dozens of volunteers had tied to trees and light poles,

 past cheering, tearful families, past workers lined up outside at Sysco

 Food Services, past the timeless courthouse square adorned with memorials

 to wars gone by, past shopkeepers and office workers, then a final loop,

 out of town, off to war.

 

 Now, months later, Nielsen remembers those proud, bittersweet moments and

 reflects on an Iraq war that lurches into a fourth year, a war that

 reverberates in so many ways in this small Wisconsin city thousands of

 miles from Iraq's urban battlefields.

 

 "My strong opinion, let's get them out, let's get them home," Nielsen says

 of the U.S. troops in Iraq. "The costs, the lives, it has become too much

 of a burden."

 

 Baraboo may or may not reflect the national mood on the Iraq war, but the

 city is definitely connected to the war, as are so many small places

 throughout the nation. In Baraboo, the war comes home to a city of

 colorful Victorian houses, sturdy schools and graceful churches.

 

 Here, they watched on television the shock and awe of the military

 campaign that began on March 19, 2003, and reached an early crescendo with

 the toppling of a Saddam Hussein statue and the quick seizure of Baghdad.

 

 From mission accomplished to extended missions, the war has dragged on.

 

 The city's citizens stand behind the citizen-soldiers even as some begin

 to question the war itself. Baraboo is one of 30 Wisconsin communities

 where a referendum on the war has been placed on a local ballot April 4.

 

 The Baraboo-based Guard unit and its 125 soldiers - gathered from area

 towns and surrounding states - are stationed in Kuwait.

 

 The soldiers are missed because they are so well known.

 

 At Baraboo High School each Tuesday, students and teachers wear tiny

 yellow ribbons, honoring family, friends and alumni serving in the

 military. Among them are Casey Rindfleisch, Kaleb Becraft and Michael

 Dotson, last year's seniors, now this year's soldiers, deployed with other

 members of the local Guard unit. They were notified of their deployment

 just minutes before going to their high school graduation.

 

 John Rindfleisch, a real estate agent, pushes the war from his mind when

 he's at work.

 

 "But when I get home I look at the news, and every time I hear of a

 soldier being killed I cringe," he says.

 

 At Medical Associates in Baraboo, where Kaleb Becraft's mother, Jauna,

 works, the staff wears red shirts on Fridays to show support for the

 troops. At a local bank, a scholarship is being held for Kaleb, an honors

 student who was due to attend the University of Wisconsin-Madison this

 past fall. "He's a hard worker who cares about others," Jauna Becraft says

 of her son.

 

 At the Baraboo Assembly of God Church, parishioners offer prayers for the

 sons of the Rev. Michael Dotson and his wife, Mary. Two flags are dug into

 a flower pot, and two blue stars hang from the front door of the Dotsons'

 home, symbols of Matthew and his younger brother Michael, both deployed.

 

 For Mary Dotson, the war literally comes home every time she receives an

 instant message from her sons - their pictures pop up on the computer

 screen.

 

 The Rev. Michael Dotson says fighting the war was important to secure

 America. But he is concerned that civil war may now break out and remains

 mystified by the motivations of suicide bombers.

 

 "I don't know anyone who grasped how long this would take," he says.

 

 At Quintessential Quilts on the city's main square, customers ask Anna

 Krause about her son Gabriel Teniente, born on the Fourth of July.

 Teniente, serving with the local Guard unit, was due home on leave this

 month.

 

 Anna Krause is against the war, so upset by the events that she helped

 gather signatures to place the anti-war referendum on the April ballot.

 "This isn't what I wanted for my son," she says.

 

 A local resident, Rob Nelson, spearheaded the referendum effort. He said

 he was driven by the simple need to do something to bring the troops home.

 

 

 The question he placed on the ballot is simple: "Shall the United States

 begin an immediate, phased withdrawal of its troops from Iraq?"

 

 "Is anyone going to pay attention?" Nelson says. "Who knows whether any of

 the policy-makers will give a hoot what the vote will be. It's one more

 opportunity to voice our concern and make a difference."

 

 There's an eerie silence at the local armory. Some of the unit's personal

 gear is stored in lockers upstairs. The gym is empty.

 

 Sgt. Nathan Weyh, who served one tour in Iraq, sits in the office, waiting

 for phone calls from family members, eager to help with any problem they

 might have.

 

 "The local Baraboo people support the Baraboo boys," he says. "How they

 support the war is a different story. It's 50-50 on the war. But the way

 they talk about the guys, they're thankful that they're there and they

 want them to come home."

 

 Some area soldiers who served in the early stages of the war have already

 returned home. Steve Kayartz did a tour in Iraq from May 2003 to January

 2004, returned to the area and bought a home with a white picket fence in

 Portage. He landed a job in security at the Kalahari Resort in Wisconsin Dells

 and worked his way up to night manager.

 

 "The war is with me every day," Kayartz says. "I appreciate things a lot

 more. I just remember being over there."

 

 At the Baraboo police station, just off the main square, fellow officers

 follow the war and want to know how Chris Nielsen's 23-year-old son,

 Jacob, is doing on a second tour of duty.

 

 Chris Nielsen is a police detective, and his wife, Mary, is a claims

 adjuster with the Wisconsin Early Childhood Association. Chris says he

 used to grow upset when he heard others oppose the war. No more. His

 support ebbed after Hurricane Katrina, he says, a storm that he says

 showed that American troops were needed at home.

 

 "Are we going to be able to look back on this 50 and 100 years from now

 and feel good about this war?" he asks.

 

 Mary says, "I'm not really one way or the other. I'm more concerned for my

 son's safety."

 

 Their support for the troops remains firm, though. Tiny flags and yellow

 ribbons decorate the outside of their home. Chris also makes sure a few

 tattered yellow ribbons remain tied to lampposts on the road into the

 city. He and Mary took hundreds of the other ones down shortly after the

 unit pulled out of town.

 

 The Nielsens discuss the war over drinks at Quindt's Town Lounge, a cozy

 tavern just down the road from the local armory. The tavern's affable

 owner, Mick Quindt, is a Vietnam veteran.

 

 When the troops were deployed, Quindt was among the first in the city to

 reach into his wallet and offer cash to help purchase a satellite phone

 for the unit. Other donations poured in, not just for the phone but for

 digital cameras. The community recently raised another $6,000 to send

 calling cards and other items to the troops.

 

 "I feel you have to stay in Iraq," Quindt says. "Now that we're into it, I

 don't think you can pull out. If we do that, they (the insurgents) won and

 we lost."

 

 The Nielsens sit silently as Quindt speaks. He's a good friend. They

 respect his politics and his views.

 

 They sip their drinks. They look at the television. There is an image from

 Iraq, file footage of troops.

 

 "The news still stops me in my tracks every night," Chris Nielsen says.

 

 They wait for the return of their son and other members of the local unit.

 They hope to see them all by Christmas.

 

 

From the Mar. 17, 2006 editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

 

 

 

 

03/18/06 War Bellwether, State Referendums Provide Blueprint To Gauge National Opinion About Iraq

The Capital Times

Saturday, March 18, 2006
By Judith Davidoff The Capital Times

Wisconsin will blaze a trail in April when, for the first time, voters will go to the polls as part of a statewide effort to pass referendums opposed to the war in Iraq.

"We see the Wisconsin campaign itself as a bellwether of national opinion," said Karen Dolan, a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies and director of the Cities for Progress project, which is helping local governments pass resolutions against the war.

"The fact that the post-invasion peace resolutions have become statewide affairs is indicative of the high level of concern and dissatisfaction among a broad sector of our citizens. Activists in other states are hoping to follow Wisconsin's model."

National peace activists will be watching closely on April 4 when voters in 32 Wisconsin communities weigh in on resolutions that call for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

Candidates running for office this fall will also likely take notice.

While lawmakers in more than 50 city and town governments across the country have passed anti-war resolutions, and voters at more than 40 town meetings in Vermont passed similar measures, the Wisconsin elections mark the first time that voters will see such a question on a ballot.

Only one Wisconsin community -- Evansville -- will also have a resolution on the April ballot opposing troop withdrawal. Ozaukee County will have a referendum in "support of U.S. anti-terror efforts" on the ballot in November.

The referendums are not legally binding, but supporters of immediate withdrawal hope that, if successful, their initiatives will put pressure on politicians in Washington to ratchet up efforts to disengage from Iraq.

"This ballot referendum is a chance for voters to go in and give their opinion on the current policy," said Barbara Smith, who has been active in the anti-war referendum efforts in Madison. "It is a chance to say we want to change the war policy."

Madison, because of its progressive politics and anti-war tradition, is expected to vote in favor of the referendum but victories elsewhere will be even more significant, said Steve Burns, one of the leaders of the Madison campaign.

Among the Wisconsin communities that will vote on anti-war referendums are Milwaukee, Mount Horeb, Watertown and La Crosse. Burns noted there are even anti-war referendums pending in Door County, which helped re-elect President Bush in 2004.

"People will look at the statewide message and, if they see it winning outside of Madison, I think that will send a very strong message," he said.

"You really have to look at it as a statewide effort," added Burns. "That's really what gives it its power."

Tim Carpenter, director of Progressive Democrats of America, said he's confident the anti-war referendums will pass in Wisconsin and people will be watching.

"It will be a great organizing tool for grass-roots groups across the country to model,"Carpenter said.

What will it mean: Ken Mayer, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, sees the anti-war referendum effort as largely symbolic.

"By itself it doesn't signify much," he said. "What's going on here is that people who are opposed to the war are seeking an opportunity to make that point and to try to demonstrate that opposition is broad. I don't think that it will have any impact on decisions in Washington because people who make those decisions already have the information they need. You can look at public opinion polls and see where that is heading."

But Joe Elder, a sociology professor at UW-Madison, said candidates running for office in Wisconsin will take notice.

"Both Democrats and Republicans who are considering their electoral chances next fall may want to take the measure of public opinion so that they can could come out with a position that will get them elected and also will have widespread support," Elder said.

Elder said that the ballot results might also mean candidates will be routinely asked to state where they stand on withdrawing troops from Iraq.

"At this point candidates could be weighing whether to recommend continuing a war, which is clearly not going well, or to conclude that the U.S. has done all it could do in Iraq and that the time has come to withdraw, as we did in Vietnam, and let the people living in the area settle their own differences."

Ben Manski, former co-chair of the National Green Party, said the anti-war initiatives have also had a secondary impact by sparking interest in a Progressive-era state law that allows citizens to bypass lawmakers and put questions of interest directly to voters.

"It's direct democracy at its heart," said Manski, who has provided legal counsel to several peace coalition campaigns around the state.

Out-of-state activists, Manski said, "are looking at Wisconsin's example to see how they can bring that to the people in their state."

National and local scene: Last year, more than 40 Vermont towns passed resolutions at town meetings calling for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.

Other cities have followed suit, including Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco.

Vermont's example inspired the state Green Party to reach out to other peace groups in Wisconsin to launch the referendum effort here, Manski said.

Sam Johnson, a founder of one of three groups in Wisconsin that have organized to oppose the anti-war referendums, charges his opposition is being directed and funded by national groups.

Johnson, who started the "Vote No to Cut and Run" political action committee with two other Dane County Republican Party officers, said his group is supported by the Republican Party but has received no funding from it.

Burns, of the Bring the Troops Home effort in Madison, disputes the notion that Wisconsin efforts are being directed at a national level. He said a coalition of 30 local groups, including churches, unions and peace groups, make up the effort in Madison.

"The money is all local," Burns said.

There is no doubt that the anti-war referendum side has deeper and wider support than its opposition.

Groups involved in Madison's anti-war effort include the South-Central Federation of Labor, Dane County Democrats, Four Lakes Green Party, International Socialist Organization, Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice, the Madison Area Peace Coalition and Madison Ecumenical Center Board.

Elected officials who have lent their name to the campaign include Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin, State Reps. Spencer Black and Mark Pocan and State Sens. Mark Miller and Fred Risser.

Johnson said his newly organized group has no formal endorsements and is concentrating on simply getting its message out. He said the group will focus on the referendum campaigns in Madison, Monona and Mount Horeb.

In Evansville, two local residents are the primary force behind the successful effort to place a referendum on the ballot that expresses support for continuing the war until "unquestioned victory is clearly won." A referendum calling for troop withdrawal is already on the ballot.

"We're just two guys with a clipboard," said Ron Gay of himself and his neighbor, Tony Ryerson.

Gay, a pastor and former U.S. Marine, said he, Ryerson and another resident went house to house seeking signatures to get their referendum on the ballot.

He said 75 percent of those contacted signed the petition.

"If the signers are a reflection of the vote, ours will pass," Gay said.

Johnson of "Vote No to Cut and Run" said his group is trying to raise money for its campaign off its Web site and will distribute about 1,000 yard signs and 500 bumper stickers.

He said his effort is driven by a belief that withdrawal of the troops would serve neither American nor Iraqi interests.

"The terrorists will declare victory if the troops come home before the job is done," he said.

But Ken Scott, one of the leaders of the anti-war referendum in Mount Horeb, said Iraq "can't be reconstructed at gunpoint. It's not working."

Withdrawing U.S. troops, Scott said, "would give Iraqi politicians the absolute incentive to cooperate with each other to avoid civil war and it will give the international community an opportunity to work with all parties involved. And we would be among the international community."

\ E-mail: jdavidoff@madison.com

Who Will Vote

Communites with "Bring the Troops Home" referendums:

Amery

Frederic

Osceola

Hayward

Exeland

Winter

Couderay

Town of Draper

Town of Edgewater

Town of Ojibwa

Ladysmith

Egg Harbor

Ephrain

Forestville

Sister Bay

Sturgeon Bay

Algoma

Casco

Kewaunee

Luxemburg

LaCrosse

Baraboo

Evansville*

Madison

Monona

Mount Horeb

Newport

Watertown

Whitefish Bay

Shorewood

Town of Perry

Town of Vermont

Source: Wisconsin State Referendum to Bring our Troops Home

*In Evansville, there will also be a referendum on the ballot opposing troop withdrawal.

03/18/06 Wisconsin State Journal: OPINION

Saturday, March 18, 2006

Pass referendum to bring our troops home

A Wisconsin State Journal editorial on Sunday called for our troops in Iraq to be gradually withdrawn from Iraq, as certain unspecified benchmarks are met. But who decides what gradually means, or what the benchmarks are?

Until now, those decisions have been left to George W. Bush, the same man who lied us into this disastrous war. And what has happened? Our troops have accomplished much, including deposing a dictator, putting him on trial and overseeing three democratic elections, only to see Bush move the goalposts. Now the president wants our troops to stay until "stability" is achieved, whatever (and whenever) that is.

A yes vote on the April 4 Bring Our Troops Home referendum won't mean all our troops are home on April 5. But it would send the right message: The people of our state are tired of writing blank checks to George Bush.

It's an election year, and Congress will be watching. A strong yes vote could strengthen the spine of many in Congress to do what it takes to bring our troops home sooner, rather than later.

-- Dennis Coyier, Cottage Grove

03/18/06 Wisconsin State Journal: OPINION

Briana Nester is a member of WNPJ member group Stop The War

Saturday, March 18, 2006

Staying won't prevent civil war in Iraq

The Journal editorial opposing the advisory referendum for immediate withdrawal claims that Iraq is on the "brink of civil war" and that is why we must remain. I agree that Iraq is on the brink of civil war, but I cannot comprehend how our military presence is going to reverse that when so far it has failed to prevent violence among its people. Our presence and actions there have more likely exacerbated tensions and promoted violence.

The Journal admitted that the Bush administration has made serious mistakes both in invading Iraq and in its strategy since. Yet without offering any signs for hope that the administration will do better, you argue we should continue to trust the lives of our fellow citizens serving in Iraq to that administration. Why?

How much patience do we allow an administration that scarcely admits a mistake and even less frequently rectifies one? Furthermore, how dare we presume that we have the right to counter civil unrest in another country using military force?

I understand the impulse to want to help undo the devastation we caused Iraq, but our administration clearly has other priorities, ones that have more to do with war-profiteering and economic domination than compassion or respect for human life.

-- Briana Nestler, Madison

03/27/06 Local War Referendums Divide Voters

April 4 To Be Decision Day

The Capital Times

Monday, March 27, 2006
By Todd Richmond Associated Press
EVANSVILLE

Judy Hale says President Bush wrecked her son's life.

Her boy, 25-year-old Brian Musser Jr., spent a year in Iraq in the Army. He's been back home for nine months, but he's jittery and prone to flashbacks of finding his buddy dead from a sniper's bullet.

"There's times he'll call me and just cry," said Hale, a waitress at the Village Square Family Restaurant in this town of about 4,000 people 20 miles southeast of Madison.

But Debbie Bair, 51, a part-time bartender at Pete's Inn just down the street, says she has a nephew in the Navy ready to volunteer for a second stint in Iraq. The president is doing the right thing, she says. After all, better to fight terrorists over there than in Wisconsin.

I'm totally for the president," Bair said.

The fissure between Hale and Bair, symbolic of the nation's mood since the United States invaded Iraq in 2003, will be on full-scale display in Wisconsin April 4 when voters in 31 cities, villages and towns -- including Evansville -- go to the polls to decide referendums calling for Bush to start pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq.

City councils around the nation have approved measures opposing the war or calling for troops to come home. Harlem township in northern Illinois voted to bring the troops home in a March 21 referendum. In Burlington, Vt., anti-war activists gathered enough signatures on petitions to ask voters to urge the city to work to prevent overseas deployments of the Vermont Air National Guard. Last March, at dozens of annual town meetings in Vermont, communities voted on the war, mostly backing resolutions critical of it.

Peace activists have pushed the referendums in Wisconsin, collecting enough signatures to get them on the ballot in tiny burgs like Egg Harbor in Door County and Hayward in Sawyer County, and in big cities like Madison and La Crosse. Fifty-one soldiers from Wisconsin have died in Iraq since the invasion.

The referendums carry absolutely no legal weight, however. Municipalities can't dictate policy to the federal government, and Bush, who has repeatedly refused to set a timetable for troop withdrawal, said last week the decision to pull out of Iraq will fall to a future president.

Still, the referendums could influence Congress and play a role in the fall elections, said University of Wisconsin-Madison political scientist Jon Pevehouse. If Congress becomes more anti-war, it could apply more pressure to Bush, he said.

"There's no direct effect, but it's not necessarily an exercise in futility," Pevehouse said. "The other thing this does, frankly, is keep it on the front burner for the media and the public."

The referendums are dividing neighbors.

Paul Mitchell, managing editor of the Sawyer County Record in Hayward, said he doesn't know which way his city will go. Even area conservatives seem to be changing their minds about Iraq in recent months as violence there continues, pushing that country closer to civil war, Mitchell said.

"People are extremely divided about it here," Mitchell said.

In Baraboo, about 40 miles northwest of Madison, 40 people or so attended a debate over the merits of the city's referendum two weeks ago.

Lance Burri, 36, who lives in Baraboo and works as an aide to state Rep. Frank Lasee, R-Bellevue, argued against the referendums at the debate. He said the referendums simply hand terrorists more propaganda and encourage them to step up attacks on American troops, hoping to break the public will.

"It's just a terrible thing for us to be doing," Burri said in a telephone interview.

Nancy Dillman, 58, who owns an art gallery in downtown Baraboo, said she likes the idea of a referendum. The war in Iraq is a disaster, she said, with frightening parallels to Vietnam.

"We're not going to come out of this a winner in any way," Dillman said. "I don't think it's dishonorable to pull out. We made a mistake. Let's pull our people out."

In Evansville, crimson signs proclaiming "Yes Bring The Troops Home" have sprouted in at least half-a-dozen yards. The city's referendum is unique -- it asks two questions,

whether troops should go home now or whether people support "our honorable President's leadership" against "the unfathomable wickedness of the forces of terror."

Talk of the referendum is on the lips of the morning regulars at the Village Square, waitresses there said. Hale, 58, said she'll vote to express her anger at Bush and what he's done to her son. But she knows it will make no difference.

"We've got to get through Bush and we're not going to get through Bush," she said. "It's going to be useless. At least we know we can try to wake him up."

Jim Martin, 48, a handyman in Evansville, thinks the public cast its lot in the 2004 election, in which Bush beat Democratic challenger John Kerry. Now it needs to let Bush make his decisions. Municipalities like Evansville shouldn't waste taxpayers' money running a referendum that means nothing, he said.

"The fact of the matter remains, we're at war," he said as he ate his lunch at the Night Owl bar.

But Diane Bailly, a 52-year-old insurance agent in Evansville, said it's sad no one has learned from past wars.

"I don't see there's a lot of honor in continuing to lose men and women to that bottomless pit over there," Bailly said. "We need to get some women in charge. We're not such warmongers."

WAR REFERENDUMS

Thirty-one cities, villages and towns in Wisconsin will vote April 4 on U.S. involvement in the Iraq war, most asking whether the United States should immediately begin withdrawing troops: The municipalities are: Algoma, Amery, Baraboo, Casco, Draper, Edgewater, Egg Harbor, Ephraim, Evansville*, Exeland, Forestville, Frederic, Hayward, Kewaunee, La Crosse, Ladysmith, Luxemburg, Madison, Monona, Mount Horeb, Newport**, Ojibwa, Osceola, Perry, Shorewood, Sister Bay, Sturgeon Bay, Vermont, Watertown, Whitefish Bay and Winter.

*Evansville also has a referendum asking whether people support "our honorable president's leadership" against "the unfathomable wickedness of the forces of terror."

**Newport** referendum asks whether the United States should hand operational commands over Iraq national security to the Iraqi government before the end of 2006.

03/29/06 End-the-war-now People Spend More

They Contribute More Than Those On The Other Side Of The Referendum Question.

Wisconsin State Journal

Wednesday, March 29, 2006
GEORGE HESSELBERG

An article on the front page of the Local section Wednesday misidentified a contributor to the Bring the Troops Home group supporting the anti-war referendum. It is the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice. Also, the last name of the late Tom Metcalfe was misspelled.

(correction published 3-30-06)

A sizeable difference was evident in the bottom lines of campaign finance reports filed Tuesday at the Madison City Clerk's Office by anti-war referendum opponents and supporters.

The Bring the Troops Home committee, which supports a yes vote on the April 4 referendum question in Madison, raised $12,036.29 from Jan. 1 through March 23, spending $7,682.25.

Adding the $4,725.30 raised and $2,908.24 spent in 2005, the total contributions to that cause equal $16,761.59, with spending at $10,586.49. The committee had a cash balance of $6,171.10.

The Vote No To Cut and Run committee, which supports a no vote, raised $3,211.98 -- nearly a third from one contributor -- and spent $2,367.51, leaving a cash balance of $844.47.

The referendum support committee's largest contributor was Bill Adamski, a Department of Natural Resources employee, who gave $1,735. A $1,500 contribution came from the Yip Harburg Foundation, of New York, which awards grants of up to $3,000 for programs promoting world peace, social and economic justice and other causes. Harburg was a successful lyricist, writing 537 songs, including "It's Only a Paper Moon," "Over the Rainbow," and "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime."

Joe Deane made in-kind contributions totaling $1,486.25 for printing at Lakeside Press, explaining his donation with "they can't do it on only a wish and a prayer."

From other organizations, the Bring the Troops Home group got $600 from Veterans for Peace, Madison Area Peace Coalition gave $500, another $600 came from the Democratic Party of Dane County, $300 cash and $1,995.68 in in-kind contributions from the Wisconsin Center for Peace and Justice. (The WCPG donation covered office space and ten hours a week of staff.) The teachers union, Madison Teachers Inc. gave $250.

To the Vote No to Cut and Run campaign, retired chiropractor Ken Luedtke contributed $1,020; the late Tom Metcalf, a Monona businessman and former mayor, contributed $500; and retired Mount Horeb resident Steven Haroldson gave $300. Mount Horeb residents Charles Himsel and Rick Skindrud each donated $100, as did Carol Skorupan, of Madison.

"There are some people who have stepped up, and some (contributions) have just come after the last deadline. I would say that it is true there are a number of Republicans, but not all. We have guys who have served (in Iraq), and there are Democrats and union members, too. I really don't think of this as a partisan issue," he said.

He said his group has worked closely with volunteers in Watertown, Mount Horeb and Monona organizing support for a no vote.

The Madison referendum, one of 31 similar resolutions and questions on Tuesday ballots around the state, reads: "Resolved: The United States shall bring all military personnel home from Iraq now."

The campaign finance reports are on file at the City Clerk's Office, and are also available at the clerk's Web site: www.ci.madison.wi.us/clerk.

04/02/06 Fighting The War At Home

Referendums Give Both Sides A Chance To Sound Off On Iraq

Wisconsin State Journal

Sunday, April 2, 2006
GEORGE HESSELBERG ghesselberg@madison.com 608-252-6140

In December in the town of Perry, population 754, the Town Board agreed to raise the wages of the recycling attendant, increase the dog license fees to $6.50 per neutered dog, and look into bringing the troops home from Iraq right away.

"Every time I watched the news or read the paper, more of our soldiers were getting killed, it made me sick," explained Roger Kittleson, a farmer, carpenter and the Town Board member who first suggested an anti-war referendum might be a good idea.

"We decided to urge the people to vote and to vote what their hearts felt," he said.

"The other thing we decided was to send the results of our referendum to all our elected officials, right up to the president, yes or no, just so they know how we feel."

Board chairman Pat Downing joined Kittleson, voting 2-1 to put the referendum on the Tuesday town ballot, joining 31 other Wisconsin municipalities doing the same.

The "no" vote came from Larry Price, who said he doesn't think "a national issue is an appropriate question for a town ballot."

From Exeland to Mount Horeb, from La Crosse to Madison, voters Tuesday will ponder the wisdom or the danger of withdrawal from the war in Iraq.

Thirty-two towns, villages and cities, with a total of about 325,000 of Wisconsin's 5.3 million residents, are weighing in on the war with referendums that vary only slightly in wording.

Though the general description of the referendums has been "anti-war" because in all but one municipality the genesis for the effort has come from people against the war, the issue is presented as a choice.

And that means, said UW-Madison political science professor Kathy Cramer Walsh, the supporters are also taking a chance.

"When people put something like this on the ballot, they are acknowledging that this may be defeated. They are acknowledging that they may be activating their opponents as much as activating their own point of view," Cramer Walsh said.

'A gut check'

What the anti-war referendum supporters, organized loosely under the banner of "Bring the Troops Home Now," activated were opponents such as William Richardson, of Madison.

"When I saw what the Madison referendum said, it was a gut check for me," said Richardson, whose military service came as a musician in the U.S. Marine band from 1966 to 1970. Father of three sons, he taught and played trombone at UW-Madison for 30 years.

Richardson doesn't think the referendum question is worth debating, the question to him is so clear cut: "They say bring the troops home now; we say vote no to cut and run, bring them home when the job is done.

"In business it is called attitude, in the military it is called morale. You can have the best-trained, educated, led and equipped soldiers in the world, but if they don't want to fight, you have nothing."

The referendums on the war have a "corrosive" effect on that morale, he said, and "they help the morale of the enemy, boosts the morale of the terrorists."

Richardson sees the anti-war referendum organizers as shadowy manipulators of an attempt to start an "impeach the president" movement.

He worries the Wisconsin referendum campaign will be exported to other states.

In Green Party

That's a great idea, said Steve Burns, coordinator of the Bring Our Troops Home Now group in Madison. Burns works part time for the group, "on loan" from the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice, an important financial and organizational backer of the referendum effort and active in the state's peace movement since 1991.

Burns is also part of the Wisconsin Green Party, which contributed volunteers and structure to organizers of anti-war referendum efforts in many areas, an effort Burns said began last June.

That explains some of the attraction of the effort in rural areas, where the Green Party appeals to a traditional independent streak among residents.

"They want to be left alone," he said, but "they don't like to be told to sit down and shut up."

The national Green Party has made no secret of its desire to promote and organize such referendums nationwide, and its call to impeach the president. The Greens are watching Wisconsin results closely, as are the national media.

In Wisconsin, along the way to getting the question on to more than 30 ballots, the organizers learned some lessons, Burns said. In Watertown, for example, a tricky interpretation of the law was eventually decided in the organizers' favor in court.

"That was important because it set a legal precedent," Burns said.

"The debate is important to show people that the war is a local issue," said Burns, seated in the group's crowded State Street office, shared with the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice.

The effort in Wisconsin was "inspired" by a similar effort in Vermont, said Burns, and was made possible by a unique but little-used Wisconsin law that allows such questions to be presented to the voters.

Responding to Richardson's criticism that the Wisconsin effort has been orchestrated from afar, Burns noted that "it has been the local people deciding to put this on the ballots, the local people chose the language, and it is the right of the citizen to set limits on government.

"This is fundamentally a conservative thing to do, insist that we have a say in the government that is taking money out of our paychecks, people out of our communities."

Wisconsin in war

Hovering over every argument for and against the referendum, but seldom specifically mentioned, is the very real, flesh-and-blood connection Wisconsin residents have with the Iraq war.

The most recent statistics show 51 U.S. service members with official residence in Wisconsin among Iraq war fatalities. That does not include three Wisconsin dead in Afghanistan, according to Lt. Col. Tim Donovan of the Wisconsin Department of Military Affairs.

The Department of Defense numbers as of Jan. 31 showed 9,053 active duty troops from Wisconsin who have served or are serving in Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan. To that, Donovan said, add "more than 9,000" Wisconsin troops from seven military reserve components.

There are currently just more than 4,000 Wisconsin troops serving in those areas, Donovan said.

Each soldier has a family, a hometown, a high school, a web of connections back to communities in the state.

It is not a given in this election that those connections translate into opposition to the referendums.

In Madison, for example, the family of Army Sgt. Mark Maida, who was killed in the Iraq war in May, has been active in support of the referendums.

But last week in Evansville, which has competing referendums to consider in support of and against the war, Iraq war veteran Sgt. Kevin Lewis expressed frustration at the anti-war question. In an emotional, impromptu discussion following a panel presentation, Lewis said the anti-war effort has a negative effect on troops.

Effect on policy?

Whether referendums have any effect on government policy has emerged as a key supplemental question in debates.

Richardson said no, and his group even refuses to publicly debate the referendum: "There are all kinds of more effective venues for people to voice their opinions. You can call, or e-mail, it's not a big secret of how to get hold of your congressman.

"This is just a technique of the far left, which they will now use on every issue," he said.

Cramer Walsh, the political scientist, said the effect of using this tool, however, is more far-reaching and, she said, inspirational in a democratic society.

"I don't think the referendums resolve whether we should be in Iraq or not," she said. "But they matter because they are very visible symbols of public opinion. It is much different than a poll. This is a demonstration of opinion among the most active segments of the public.

"Whether or not it has an effect on policy, it is an important use of a tool that is not all that common in Wisconsin."

From a more distant view, even the results may not be the most important part of the effort, she said.

"A lot of people will look at it and say what a waste of time, but it gets a lot of attention and that is something in and of itself. And it gets people talking. And politicians take notice when citizens get mobilized and do something collectively."

A referendum is not, she said, a practical way to decide all policy.

"We have representatives for a reason. If we decided all policy this way, it would be ridiculous. But the folks who wrote the Declaration of Independence were very patriotic people, and what they said very clearly was that you have a right and a duty to get involved when you think the government is not acting in the people's interest. It is not unpatriotic to disagree with policy. It is unpatriotic to do nothing."

Rhetoric on the Web

That patriotism question comes up in discussions, too, but the past months of campaigning have been mostly absent of public name-calling.

In Whitefish Bay, according to newspaper reports, a village trustee, Jim Brennan, was severely criticized after he wrote a letter to the North Shore Herald weekly accusing the 1,000 people who signed a petition that got the anti-war referendum on the ballot as being guilty of treason.

"They are just as guilty as those who are killing and injuring our soldiers and our airmen," he wrote.

Chuck Himsel is the fire chief in Mount Horeb, where a referendum is on the ballot. His is the rare home in the village with a "Vote No To Cut and Run" sign, but he is not questioning the patriotism of the referendum backers.

"It is not my intention to be a flaming patriot, and I can't stand up and applaud slaughter. But cut-and-run is a signal that says to the terrorists, come and get us again. I am not preaching or condemning those who disagree with me. Somebody jumped me and said he didn't appreciate my yard sign. I said it's my yard, my house, my sign and God bless America."

Kittleson, the town of Perry farmer, points out the inconsistencies in many of the debate points. The Green Party, for example, had nothing to do with getting the referendum on that town's ballot.

"I guess I wasn't really for starting the war when Bush decided to do it. If there were weapons of mass destruction, well, yes they should be taken care of. But we have been there three years. We have captured Saddam. They are still killing our soldiers. They supposedly have a new leader. It's time for the people of that country to run it themselves. I understand war is war, but I don't think we are going to change the Iraqis way of thinking."

Fran Zell, a member of a group in Evansville that helped organize the successful anti-war referendum petition drive, said the turnout for a panel discussion last week was a positive sign for both sides.

Before the referendum issue arose in Evansville, "no one would talk about the war. This is bringing the discussion out into the open."

The discussion will not end Tuesday. Voting residents of the city of Milwaukee and Ozaukee County will face the anti-war referendums on ballots in November.

Burns said the referendum effort will continue and it is "very likely" more communities will be added to the November list.

Online resources

There are several Web sites sponsored by supporters and opponents of the anti-war referendums in Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice Web site, www.wnpj.org, provides access to several links on the topic from the supporters' side, including www.wisconsin

troopshome.org.

Referendum opponents' opinions and links can be found at www.votenoto

cutandrun.com or at the Web site of opponents of the La Crosse referendum at www.choosevictory.org.

04/04/06 Iraq: The Case for Bringing the Troops Home

Submitted by WNPJ member Adam Schesch

Union Labor News April 4, 2006 Article

On Tuesday April 4, voters in twenty-three cities and villages across Wisconsin, including Madison, Monona, Mt. Horeb, Watertown, and Baraboo, will have a chance to vote in referendums on the Iraq war. The wordings are variations of "Should the US government immediately withdraw all US armed forces in Iraq?" The referendum movement hopes to send a strong message to Wisconsin’s politicians that it is time to bring our troops home. ‘Vote Yes’ advocates, including many local union members, feel there are major reasons to leave Iraq now.

The Cost …Too High and Going Higher

The war has cost American and Iraqi lives, cut needed services at home, and weakened our domestic security. At current rates, by the April election, 2,400 American soldiers will have died and 18,000 will have been wounded. More than 100,000 Iraqi civilians will have been killed or wounded. We have already spent more than $350 billion on Iraq with combat expenses alone running at $7 billion a month. Our capacity to fight disasters at home has been crippled. Half the National Guard is in Iraq from states that suffer major hurricanes, tornadoes, forest fires, floods and other annual disasters. Our other homeland security needs are underfunded – our ports are not much safer than four years ago, our nuclear and chemical plants are inadequately protected, and our public health system – the first line of defense against pandemics and biochemical warfare – is in poor condition.

Our most basic human services have been cut every year of the war – including veterans services and benefits and basic programs for children, the disabled, and the elderly. Another 140 programs are slated for cuts or termination this year. The Iraq War costs have been added to our already bloated national debt. And lastly, our own political and moral beliefs have been damaged by the abuses of foreign prisoners and the attacks on basic civil liberties and the rule of law – all in the name of wartime circumstances.

Americans are a generous people who have sacrificed greatly and will "step up to the plate" where the goals are truly meritorious – as in World War II. So some of these costs would be tolerated or accepted if the Iraq war were truly helping the Iraqi people and ending the threat of terrorism to Americans. But the truth is quite different.

Occupation Helps Foreign Terrorists

We know now there were no outside Arab nationalist or Islamic fundamentalist terrorists operating in Iraq before our invasion. Our occupation of Iraq has given the terrorists a training ground and an opportunity to fight in Iraq. In the summer of 2005, US government-funded research teams found that most of the new non-Iraqi guerrillas and terrorists came to Iraq after 2003 only because of the US occupation of an Arab or Islamic country.

These terrorists have a radically different agenda from the Iraqi Sunni Arab insurgents. The local fighters wage a more traditional guerrilla war campaign of resistance. The outsiders, according to US military commanders, constitute only 5-10 percent of the insurgents. Yet they are responsible for virtually all of the suicide bombings – including the suicide attacks on Shi’ite mosques. These are designed to provoke a civil war with the so-called "heretical" Shia population and prevent agreement between moderate Shias, Sunni’s and the ethnically different Kurdish population. Iraqi Sunni Arab leader