Portland council urges no Iran attack

Source: Associated Press

While national lawmakers debate the Iraq war, the Portland City Council has moved on to Iran.

The council on Wednesday voted 4-0 on a resolution that asks President Bush and Congress to refrain from attacking Iraq's eastern neighbor. Portland is the second U.S. city to pass such a resolution, following Berkeley, Calif.

"We believe a military escalation is not the right way to go, and we believe the current conversations have far too much similarity to what was clearly a duplicitous effort to lead the world into war in Iraq," said Commissioner Erik Sten, who authored the resolution on behalf of Portland's American Iranian Friendship Council. "If we can spark a conversation in city halls across the country, we can have a real political impact."

Before the vote, Mayor Tom Potter and the commissioners heard testimony from activists and immigrants, who described the violence that resulted from the 1953 CIA-backed coup of Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh. They also talked about similarities between the U.S. buildup before the Iraq war and what's happening now in and around Iran.

Read more: http://www.kgw.com/news-local/stories/kgw_032207_politics_iran_portland.64da047.html

---

How long will state and local governments have to do the Congress' job? The Iran War ban should have been in the supplemental, but they flinched for reasons that can't be named here.

She used the same language that Bush used on Iraq, and that he is now using on Iran.

I applaud all the communities across this country that have passed anti-Iran war resolutions. Too bad that the American people don't have the same influence on Congress that AIPAC has.

Portland is a fantastic, progressive city with the state getting bluer by the day.

The fewer people, the more conservatives.