Vermont Is United!

[skywalker]

Vt. delegation united against war

By Erin Kelly

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Patrick Leahy on Wednesday declared his intention to vote against the Iraq war resolution, joining Sen. James Jeffords and Rep. Bernie Sanders in a united Vermont delegation opposition to military action.

"This resolution permits the president to take whatever military action he wants, whenever he wants, for as long as he wants," Leahy said from the Senate floor. "It is a blank check ... and this Vermonter does not sign blank checks."

At this point, Vermont is the only state in which every member of the congressional delegation has publicly rejected the White House-backed resolution, which would give President Bush the blessing of Congress to pursue military action against Iraq. The Senate and House are expected to pass the resolution overwhelmingly.

The senators and congressman say their stance reflects the will of Vermonters, who have flooded the lawmakers' offices with thousands of e-mails, letters and phone calls running 100-1 against military action. Jeffords' aides said he had received 500 phone calls Friday alone. Sanders said he had received more than 4,000 calls, letters and e-mails.

"Everywhere I go in the state, Vermonters tell me they are strongly opposed to President Bush's proposal that we should go forward without the United Nations and international support," said Sanders, an independent who has been a vocal opponent of the White House resolution.

Sanders spoke Wednesday on the House floor, questioning whether an American invasion of Iraq would do more harm than good.

Leahy, a Democrat, chastised his Senate colleagues for "shirking" their constitutional responsibility to vote on a declaration of war. Instead, he said, they are voting on a nonbinding resolution that delegates responsibility to the president.

"We in the United States Senate have a duty to the Constitution, to our consciences, and to the American people, especially our men and women in uniform, to ask questions, discuss the benefits, the risks, the costs -- to have a thorough debate, and to vote to declare war -- or not," Leahy said.

The president has not made a convincing case that there is an immediate need to go to war with Iraq, Leahy said. He said the United States should wait for the U.N. Security Council to try to force Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein to open his nation to weapons' inspectors.

"If successful, it could achieve the goal of disarming Saddam without putting thousands of American and innocent Iraqi lives at risk or spending tens of billions or hundreds of billions of dollars at a time when the U.S. economy is weakening, the federal deficit is growing, and the retirement savings of America's senior citizens have been decimated," Leahy said.

The 28-year Senate veteran compared the Iraq war resolution to the Gulf of Tonkin resolution that gave presidents Johnson and Nixon sweeping power to wage the Vietnam War.

"The key words in the resolution we are considering today are remarkably similar to that infamous resolution of 38 years ago, which so many senators came to regret," Leahy said. "Let us not make that mistake again."

Jeffords, an independent, expressed similar sentiments in two separate speeches from the Senate floor.

"I fear that this administration is, perhaps unwittingly, heading us into a miserable cycle of waging wars that isolate our nation internationally and stir up greater hatred of America," Jeffords said.

Very strange...elected officials that listen to the will of the people...I hope it catches on around the rest of the USA!

Mark

[Timber Loftis]

Not so strange in Vermont. With only 2 Senators and 1 Congressman, and only 600,000 citizens, it's the size of Lexington, KY. In a place that small you respond to the will of the voters or get kicked out fast. And with the old-style town meetings still serving as the predominate form of local government, the lawmakers get nasty-grams and reports from whole towns speaking as one.

Oh, I do so miss it.