War protesters address Snowe on Bangor walk

BANGOR – Even before U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, got to her first destination on a walking tour of downtown Bangor on Wednesday to survey residents about their views on critical issues facing the nation, she was stopped by a group of residents opposed to the war in Iraq.

The group of six or seven area residents, many of whom have protested for peace outside her Bangor office in the years since the war began, stopped Snowe just outside the Antiques Marketplace and Cafe on Main Street to tell her how upset they are about the nation’s continued presence in Iraq.

Snowe, who decided last month to break from her Republican counterparts and President Bush to support a withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, took time to issue remarks about what she believes are the biggest issues in Iraq.

“You have an Iraqi government who has just not been willing to take the steps to take over,” she said. “The Iraqi politicians have not demonstrated their commitment.”

The country’s inability to include all of its citizens, especially Iraqi minorities, in forming the new government is another huge issue, Snowe said.

After making her statements, the senator listened to the group’s issues.

Bangor resident Karen Foley, who has a son serving in Iraq, told the senator that her son feels like “this is a big waste of our time” and asked Snowe what she would tell troops to keep them motivated.

While Snowe was answering Foley, telling her that troops she met during a recent visit to the war zone are “extraordinary men and women” who are committed to performing their duties, peace activist Ilze Petersons asked in dramatic style, “How many more will have to die?”

Petersons, of Orono, who has been arrested for protesting in Snowe’s office and who identified herself as a person who works for the Peace and Justice Center of Eastern Maine, followed up her question by telling the senator she appreciates the fact that Snowe is calling for the return of American troops. She then added that billions of dollars in funding that should be used in this country is being sent to fight the war in Iraq.

“We need to stop this war, and we need these resources for the people in the state of Maine,” Peterson said.

Snowe, who supported an unsuccessful Democratic amendment attached to the defense appropriations bill earlier this year that would have placed an April 2008 deadline to remove troops from Iraq, said she and other congressional members are awaiting a report on Iraq and the war by Gen. David Petraeus, the highest U.S. commander in Iraq, expected in September.

The Petraeus report will give a nonadministrative look at the progress made in the war and could be used to create an exit strategy for Iraq, she said.

“We don’t want to leave chaos behind,” Snowe stressed.

After Snowe listened and responded to questions from a few other residents within the Antiques Marketplace, she shopped for about five minutes, then made her way down the street to The Grasshopper Shop, stopping at Rebecca’s Gift Shop and Picasso Salon studio along the way.

After leaving Bangor, the senator set off for Ellsworth and Belfast to hear from residents in those communities.

On the walking tours, Snowe said, “It is important to be able to be here to talk with people,” then remarked that the Iraq war is clearly the dominant issue for Mainers.

“After all, it’s been 41/2 years and no president can sustain a war without the support of the people,” she said, adding later that the walking tours are “a great way for me to take the temperature” of residents’ opinions of national issues.

Snowe did similar tours in Portland, Brunswick and Saco last week.