Frustrated by the inability of Democrats in the US Congress to pass a resolution opposing US President George W. Bush's policies in Iraq, state legislators across the country, led by Democrats and under pressure from liberal advocacy groups, are pushing forward with their own resolutions.
Antiwar resolutions have been passed in chambers of three legislatures, in California, Iowa and Vermont. The Maryland General Assembly sent a letter to its congressional delegation, signed by a majority of the state Senate and close to a majority of the House, urging opposition to the increase in troops in Iraq.
Letters or resolutions are being drafted in at least 19 other states. The goal is to embarrass Congress into passing its own resolution and to provide cover for Democrats and Republicans looking for concrete evidence back home that anti-Iraq resolutions enjoy popular support.
Stopping the war
"The end of this war has to start sometime and somewhere," the president of the Iowa Senate, John Kibbie, a Democrat, said on Thursday. "And stopping the expansion of these troops needs to happen now."
The activity was spurred in a conference call last month that included state legislators, Democrat US Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts and advocacy groups like the Progressive States Network and MoveOn.org.
Kennedy said pressure by the states would push Washington to oppose the Iraq plans of the Bush administration.
"Your voices, your calls, your e-mails and your resolutions have an impact on the debate," Kennedy said.
Many Republicans in state legislatures have remained silent on the resolutions, seeing no advantage in signing or voting for them. Others have called the actions essentially votes of no confidence in the troops on the ground.
`Waste of time'
"These resolutions are a colossal waste of time," said Kris Kobach, chairman of the Republican Party in Kansas, where the Republican-controlled legislature killed a resolution in committee.
Many resolutions use language from the Progressive States Network that apes language in a proposed resolution in Congress that says Bush should obtain explicit congressional approval before adding troops in Iraq.
Other resolutions go further, calling for a deadline for departure, immediate troop withdrawal or stopping the financing of the war. The votes have largely fallen along party lines -- Democrats for and Republicans against -- although there have been exceptions.
In North Dakota, a Democrat and a Republican are sponsoring a resolution urging Congress and Bush to "disengage American combat forces in Iraq."
In a vote on Thursday in the Iowa Senate, Republicans insisted on a voice vote rather than a roll call on a resolution to condemn the increase in troops. The measure, which passed, is headed to the House, where its fate is uncertain.
The resolutions, much like the ones that Congress is considering, are nonbinding and have little effect beyond politics.
But the states' debates function as an echo chamber for the debate over withdrawing troops from Iraq and help demonstrate growing concerns on the war.
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