[Peace-discuss] States to Congress: Block War Escalation

[Robert Naiman]

anyone working on this in Illinois...?

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Published on Tuesday, February 6, 2007 by The Nation
States to Congress: Block War Escalation
by John Nichols


As the Senate struggles even to open debate on a non-binding –
translation: meaningless – resolution expressing frustration with
President Bush's plan to surge 21,500 more U.S. troops into Iraq,
state legislators across the country are telling Congress to embrace
its constitutionally-defined duty to check and balance an
out-of-control executive.

With encouragement from the Progressive States Network and activists
across the country, members of at least 22 state legislatures have
introduced resolutions urging Congress to use its authority to prevent
the escalation of a war that should not have been fought in the first
place. The resolutions that have been introduced generally declare
that: "the Congress should pass legislation prohibiting the President
from spending taxpayer dollars on an escalation in Iraq unless he
first seeks Congressional approval."

This is a relatively mild intervention at a time when most Americans
oppose not just the president's "surge" proposal but the war itself.
What the legislators are suggesting, however, is that a divided
Congress must, at the very least, act to prevent the escalation of a
war that has killed thousands of Americans and hundreds of thousands
of Iraqis, that has made Americans at home and abroad less safe and
that has emptied the US treasury of funds that could pay for health
care, education and other needed programs in the states.

There will be those who suggest that state and local officials have no
place in federal debates. But PSN leaders, citing past moves by states
to add their voices to debates over trade policy, argue that the
legislative resolutions on the "surge" issue can and should play a
vital role on convincing Congress to act.

"States have the power and authority to speak out on issues that will
impact them and their citizens," says PSN executive director Joel
Barkin. "An escalation in Iraq would cripple our already over-extended
guard units, threatening readiness at home."

Barkin's found plenty of agreement for that view in state capitols
around the country. So far, PSN is tracking resolutions in Arizona,
California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Maine,
Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New York,
North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont,
Washington and West Virginia.

The moves by state legislators come as city officials across the
country are stepping into the debate over the diversion of precious
resources to an unwise and unnecessary war. Two weeks ago, the
Minneapolis, Minnesota, city council passed a Bring the Troops Home
Resolution, making it the 274th community to endorse an exit strategy
as part of the Cities for Peace campaign organized by the Institute
for Policy Studies' Cities for Progress initiative.

The Cities for Peace campaign, an outgrowth of a pre-war push to get
local governments to weigh in on Iraq, began long before the president
made his "surge" proposal in January.

The new effort to get state legislators to pass anti-escalation
resolutions began several weeks ago. In a PSN-organized conference
call with legislators and activists, Massachusetts Senator Edward
Kennedy, who had just proposed legislation that would require the
president to attain congressional approval for any move to send more
troops to Iraq, said that states should weigh in on the "surge" issue.

Kennedy suggested that members of Congress can be prodded by the
states, noting that moves by states to increase the minimum wage has
played a role in forcing the US House and Senate to address the issue.

States can do the same on the war, explained Kennedy.

PSN answered the call, using its website to encourage citizens to
contact state legislators and urge them to speak out against the
surge. More than 10,000 did. And the numbers are expected to rise
quickly, as PSN will join MoveOn, True Majority and the Women
Legislators' Lobby are preparing to launch a national drive to build
citizen support for the state-based anti-escalation resolutions.

The anti-war surge from below comes in conjunction with a broader
Americans against Escalation in Iraq campaign, which has won backing
the Service Employers International Union (SEIU), US Action, Move On,
Win Without War, Vote Vets, Center for American Progress, Campaign for
America's Future and United States Student Association.

Americans Against Escalation plans to launch a multi-million-dollar
campaign in up to two dozen states with the stated purpose of creating
"a firestorm of grass-roots mobilization (to insist that Congress
stand up to the President and insist on a policy which responsibly
brings our troops home."

The point, explains former Congressman Tom Andrews, the Maine Democrat
who serves as Win Without War's national director, is to prevent
George Bush from steering the United States deeper into the Iraq
quagmire.

"From the outset, the Bush administration's Iraq policy has been
rooted in denial and deception and carried out with a lethal
combination of arrogance, ignorance and incompetence," says Andrews.
"When you find yourself in a hole, the first principle is to stop
digging."