03/31/07 Vote Yes To End The War

Vote Yes To End The War

The Capital Times
Saturday, March 31, 2007

Last spring, when dozens of Wisconsin communities voted "yes" on referendums calling for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, the message got all the way to the White House.

National reporters asked George Bush's press aides about the president's reaction to the votes. While the responses were disappointing, the discussions provided evidence that the American people were far more prepared than the White House or the Congress for a serious effort to end the misguided occupation of Iraq.

That signal was delivered again in November, when states across the country sent anti-war Democrats to Congress with a charge to end the war.

There has been progress. Congress is advancing legislation that includes benchmarks and timelines for an exit strategy.

But Washington still needs prodding.

On Tuesday, voters in Stoughton will have an opportunity to send that message.

The ballot in the Dane County city includes a referendum question asking whether voters support the rapid and responsible withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. We hope that Stoughton voters will join other communities around the state in saying that, yes, it is time to wind this war down.

Voting for withdrawal is not an abandonment of the troops. Every serious proposal for withdrawal that has been advanced in Congress includes full funding for the protection of U.S. forces during the process. The support-the-troops vote on Tuesday is "yes." Yes, it is time to bring our young men and women home from Iraq.

Yes, it is time to honor them for their service in a war that was not of their making.

Yes, it is time to provide them with the health care, education and opportunity that they have been promised.

As the national group Iraq Veterans Against the War argues, the Bush administration planned for an attack against Iraq before Sept. 11, 2001. Officials used the false pretense of an imminent nuclear, chemical and biological weapons threat to deceive Congress into rationalizing this unnecessary war. They hide our casualties of war by banning the filming of caskets when they arrive home, and when they refuse to allow the media into Walter Reed Hospital and other veterans facilities, which are overflowing with wounded veterans.

It is time to support the troops in the most responsible way possible: by bringing them home.