State Democrats propose anti-war resolution

AUGUSTA – Ethan Strimling freely concedes he’s not a foreign policy expert and that he has never served in the armed forces. But the freshman Democratic state senator from Portland says he has heard enough about a possible war with Iraq to conclude that military intervention would provide few benefits for Mainers.

Supported by about 50 activists and state legislators, Strimling urged lawmakers Thursday to sign on to a nonbinding legislative resolve asking President Bush “to support the full pursuit of diplomatic resolutions and weapons inspections” in Iraq.

The high cost of waging war on Iraq would only hurt states such as Maine already struggling with budget problems because of the weakened economy, he said.

“The workers up in Millinocket have a much greater threat than Saddam Hussein,” Strimling said. “The workers up in Millinocket need their mill to be opened, and they need our help and the federal government’s help. The dairy farmers in Clinton have a much greater threat than Saddam Hussein. They need the prices of their milk to stop spiraling, and they need our help.”

Claiming the support of all 18 members of the Democratic majority in the Senate, Strimling hopes to pass his resolution Tuesday – the day before Secretary of State Colin Powell is supposed to reveal intelligence data at the United Nations that substantiates the president’s claims against Saddam.

Should majority Democrats in the House also embrace the resolution, Strimling maintains Maine would become the first state in the nation to oppose the war legislatively.

Facing a $1 billion deficit between the costs of state services and projected revenues, Maine lawmakers have good reason to take a skeptical view of a costly war with Iraq, Strimling said.

“The war is going to cost upwards of $200 billion. That’s from the president’s own advisers,” he said. “You do a little bit of quick math that says it’s going to cost Maine taxpayers about $500 million. That’s $500 million we could use today – no question about it. How is it that we find enough money to be able to bomb Iraqi families and their children, but we don’t have enough money to provide health care for Maine families and day care for their children?”

In the House, Democratic Majority Leader John Richardson of Brunswick said he was aware that numerous families would be directly affected by the military conflict, since many Mainers in the armed services already have been deployed overseas.

“If we are going to ask these Mainers to put their lives in jeopardy, let’s be sure that we have taken the proper path and that we have exhausted all reasonable opportunities to preserve peace in the region,” Richardson said.

“As Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins have said, ‘Let inspections work, and let’s build a coalition of support rather than unilaterally and hastily jumping into world war with Iraq.'”

One resolution proponent, Sen. Chris Hall, D-Bristol, had to renounce his British citizenship to become an American. Acknowledging that life changed for all U.S. citizens after terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, Hall said Americans have a choice: to be loved or feared.

“We can never defeat terrorism through the choice of being feared,” he said. “Fear breeds hatred and hatred breeds terrorism. Leadership requires the followership of the rest of the world. Without followers we are not a leader, we are merely isolators.”

Republicans were virtually invisible during Thursday’s anti-war resolution news conference. Later, Sen. Chandler Woodcock, a Farmington Republican and assistant Senate minority leader, said he was offended by the remarks of Strimling and others. A Vietnam War veteran, Woodcock said the president has good intelligence on Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction program.

“Saddam Hussein is a serious concern for us all,” he said. “History has shown that small dictators in obscure areas of the world can become quite powerful.”

House Republican leader Joe Bruno of Raymond said regardless of his personal opinion on the merits of military action in Iraq, the resolution proposed by Strimling and Richardson was a clear example of a matter that should be out of bounds for the Legislature.

“Is the Legislature really in a position to say that military action does more to threaten the stability of the Middle East region than a continued Hussein-led Iraq?” Bruno asked in a prepared statement. “Have Maine’s ambassadors reported back that all world leaders are opposed to unilateral action? If not, are we really in a position to claim such as part of this resolution?”

The answer to Bruno’s question was an obvious yes from Thomas Sturtevant, spokesman for Maine Veterans for Peace, Greg Fields of Peace Action Maine and Rep. John Eder of Portland, the Legislature’s lone Green Party member.

“We don’t want this war,” Eder said. “Once again the working men and women of Maine are being sent off to lay down their lives in a grab for oil riches that they will never see. Our state has a terrible budget shortfall, people are losing their jobs, whole industries are shutting down, and people are struggling to pay for their housing, heat and education. Yet, the Washington establishment is prepared to squander billions on a reckless war that is against our best interests.”