Daily Southtown

Op-Ed: Vote for peace on Cook County ballot

October 30, 2006

By Laurel Lambert Schmidt

tinyurl.com/ybv8sy

Voters in Cook County have the opportunity to answer the following question on the Nov. 7 ballot:

Shall the United States Government immediately begin an orderly and rapid withdrawal of all its military personnel from Iraq, beginning with the National Guard and reserves?

The question appears on the Cook County ballot thanks to the work of volunteers who collected thousands of petition signatures.

I urge you and your readers to take this opportunity and cast a vote for peace! By voting "yes," we will send a clear message to our representatives in Washington that the American public has had enough of the Bush administration's Iraq debacle.

If we figure the consequences of this war and occupation so far, the stakes could not be higher:

--Its human cost has resulted in almost 2,800 deaths and more than 20,000 wounded U.S. military personnel. A new study estimates an astounding 600,000 Iraqis have been killed.

--We've spent $336 billion already. Iraq may cost $2 trillion when the long-term effects are added up. To put this in perspective, the cost to Cook County taxpayers alone could have given us 127,000 new schoolteachers.

--Multiple polls of U.S. citizens, U.S. soldiers, Iraq citizens and others around the world show opinion strongly against our continued occupation of Iraq.

The chaos we were supposed to contain has been compounded by our presence. "Staying the course" means more of the same.

We have not become safer in a world complicated by this war and occupation. We entered Iraq on false pretenses. Now we need to do the right thing and vote for peace this November so we can begin to leave as quickly as possible.

[Laurel Lambert Schmidt, of Riverside, is a member of Near West Citizens for Peace and Justice.]

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Downers Grove Sun:

Residents to vote on bringing U.S. troops home

November 2, 2006

By Eva McKendrickstaff writer

tinyurl.com/yn3l6q

Downers Grove Township voters will be among 34 Illinois townships asked on the Nov. 7 ballot if they want troops to withdraw from Iraq. It seems simple enough, but peace activists from all over the state fought for its spot on the ballot.

The final referendum question reads, "Shall the United States Government immediately begin an orderly and rapid withdrawal of all its military personnel from Iraq, beginning with the National Guard and Reserves?"

In DuPage County, DuPage Against War Now organized the movement to get the question on the ballot. DAWN members Kathy Slovick and Sara Dobyns say that either way the township votes on the issue, it will send a significant message to elected officials about how the community feels.

"Voting is one of the few opportunities we have to talk to elected officials," Dobyns said.

On April 1, DAWN members attended an Illinois Peace Coalition meeting in Champagne. There, peace leaders encouraged activists to show up at their annual township meetings on April 11 and put an Iraq advisory question on the ballot.

According to Illinois statute, at one township meeting every year, electors are allowed to vote on an advisory question of public policy to be placed on the ballot in the next election. If a majority of residents present vote for the item, it is the township's responsibility to put it on the ballot. Illinois peace advocates felt this would be the best way to get a question about Iraq on the ballot.

In predominantly Republican DuPage County, going to township meetings meant traveling into "some heavy-duty enemy territory," Slovick said.

"To go in there and suggest the troops should come home - that seems pretty bold," she said.

Dobyns, a Willowbrook resident, lead 16 DAWN members into Downers Grove Township's annual meeting to get the advisory question on the ballot. The vote to include the measure was cleanly split between DAWN members and the township trustees, but with more DAWN members than trustees in attendance, the question won the majority of votes.

"There was some hostility towards the referendum," Dobyns said. "They acted like we were trying to take over their meeting, but we were really trying to participate."

Downers Grove Township Trustee William Swanston was more surprised than anything else when DAWN arrived at the meeting, because usually residents don't show up unannounced to put items on the agenda.

"If you're aware of it (an upcoming issue), you can get it out and hear from people who are expressing their opinion on it one way or another," Swanston said. He said he voted against the referendum because he didn't think voting for the troops to be withdrawn would accomplish anything.

Other communities with the Iraq referendum on the election ballot include all of suburban Cook County, the townships of Downers Grove, Aurora, Geneva and Sycamore, and some communities in Wisconsin.

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Editorial: DeKalb Daily Chronicle

tinyurl.com/ya6r5v

On the Iraq war referendums, we urge yes votes

The war in Iraq has dragged on far longer than it should have. Iraq is moving closer to civil war. Our country is badly divided on the war. We have seen far too many Iraqis and Americans die. The one thing the American public and Iraqi public agree on is that it is time to start bringing American troops home.

Voters in DeKalb and Sycamore townships have an opportunity to say just that to our government leaders on Election Day.

We hope they seize the opportunity.

People will be asked - perhaps in clumsy language - to approve advisory referendums that basically say it is time to change the course in Iraq and start drastically reducing our military presence there.

We urge approval of the referendums.

It is important to consider what the referendums are and are not:

--The measures will have no legal standing. If they are approved, the war will continue. But a message will have been sent.

--They are not a slap at the decent American troops who have risked - and in many cases, given - their lives for the cause. These people have been yanked from their surroundings and sent to a foreign country where they have performed admirable work under tough circumstances. They have served their country in the finest tradition of military service, even if their country's leaders have not always served them well. Weapons of mass destruction were not found, but one of the most evil despots in the world was overthrown. Iraqis have been given a chance at a new beginning. The Iraqis are the ones who will have to seize that opportunity.

--They are not a referendum on the DeKalb Interfaith Network for Peace & Justice. The activist group has been involved in dozens of causes in the area over the years. We have agreed with some and disagreed with others. We have admired their tactics in some cases and have sometimes been irritated by them. In this matter, we think they are representing a widespread feeling of frustration in the community. But it is the Iraq war, not the Interfaith Network, that is on the ballot.

--They are not an approval of the methods used to get the matter on the ballot. The referendums are, in effect, a resurrection of the American tradition of the New England town meeting where the entire populace is given a chance to voice its opinions on all topics. So it was laudable when the Interfaith people went to the township annual meetings - meetings that most people didn't know existed - and worked to put the matter on the ballot.

But how much better it would have been if they had announced ahead of time they planned to do this. An open debate on the issue could have been held at the township meetings. And the discussion about whether the proposals violated the state's Open Meetings Act could have been avoided.

--They are not an effort to “cut and run.”

--But the referendums call for a planned drawdown of troops. They offer a simple statement that our military personnel have done their job and it is time to hand over control of Iraq to the Iraqis.

--The referendums will give frustrated Americans who feel they are not being listened to a chance to be heard.

The referendums do not contain the wording we would have chosen. But they are, after all, advisory. They are intended to send a message, not create policy. The message is clear. It is time to change the course. It is time to begin our departure. It is time that American troops end their days in Iraq, helping to rebuild the infrastructure of this ailing country as they leave. It is time to show that we are a loving, caring people, as we did in Japan, Bosnia and many other countries where we have been involved militarily.

It is time to turn our attention to the many pressing problems at home and around the world.

DeKalb and Sycamore township residents have an opportunity a week from Tuesday to send a loud, powerful, heartfelt message.

We urge them to do so.

Copyright 2006, Daily Chronicle. All rights reserved.