Cities Show All Politics Is Local by Weighing In on Iraq

The Chicago City Council may not have much say in when U.S. troops come home from Iraq. But that does not mean it has nothing to say.

The city is one of 67 around the country that have passed resolutions calling for U.S. withdrawal, in hopes that they can help start a groundswell that will force the hand of the Bush administration and Congress. Others include Chapel Hill., N.C.; Gary, Ind.; dozens of towns in Vermont; and, perhaps no surprise, such famously liberal municipalities as Berkeley, Calif., and Cambridge, Mass. The resolutions typically call on the U.S. government "to commence an orderly and rapid withdrawal of United States military personnel from Iraq," while also shipping nonmilitary aid "necessary for the security of Iraq's citizens and for the rebuilding of Iraq."

The efforts are being pushed by the D.C.-based Institute for Policy Studies, which sponsored the prewar "Cities for Peace" campaign that helped rally 165 cities to oppose the 2003 invasion. Director John Cavanagh, pointing to polls that show growing public frustration with the Iraq war, said that "we're at a fascinating tipping point." "The Iraq story has become much more central than any of us would have predicted in defining how the people in power govern and what their values are," Cavanagh said. "I can imagine a majority within a year to 18 months that would vote to cut off the money for the war. That is a goal. There are different ways to end the war, but that's the one that feels clearest."

How far the effort goes remains to be seen. Cavanagh is the first to concede that cities alone cannot make foreign policy. The Chicago resolution, passed in September, took note of the death toll, as well as the strain on U.S. military, National Guard and Reserve units. It cites the war's cost -- upward of $200 million -- and argues that Chicago's portion could have paid for Head Start for 238,056 children for one year or 31,147 public school teachers for a year. It also charges that the treatment of prisoners has inflamed anti-American passions and increased the terrorist threat to U.S. citizens.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/19/AR2005111901183.html

...on their ballots recommending an end to the Iraq conflict.

On Wisconsin indeed!

NGU.