Allen blasts war, Collins at University of Maine rally

ORONO – Roughly 75 people gathered in a University of Maine lecture hall Tuesday evening as part of a national campaign to pressure Congress to end the war in Iraq.

The “Take a Stand” forum was organized by a coalition of groups operating under the name Americans Against Escalation in Iraq. The Orono event and others held around the country, including several others in Maine, were billed as the culmination of a 10-week summer campaign.

One of the featured speakers was U.S. Rep. Tom Allen, D-District 1, a vocal critic of President Bush’s Iraq war policy.

Allen, who recently spent a day in Iraq as part of a brief Middle East tour, urged the audience members to keep the pressure on Congress to end what he said is essentially “an open-ended commitment” of U.S. troops in Iraq.

Saying the U.S. is now caught in the middle of a religious war it cannot referee, Allen repeated his calls for Congress to set a timetable for withdrawing American forces.

“You have an absolute catastrophe in Iraq today,” he said. “If you don’t set a deadline for withdrawal, there will be no change in policy.”

A primary target in Tuesday’s event was Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, whom Allen is challenging this November. Collins, who declined an invitation to speak to the group, has supported an amendment setting a target but not a binding date for withdrawal of U.S. troops.

U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud, D-District 2, and Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe both sent statements to the gathering.

The most emotional words came from Franklin resident Craig Cote, whose son is serving his second tour in Iraq.

Cote railed against the administration, calling President Bush “the biggest weapon of mass destruction that the world at these times has seen.” He also criticized those who accuse those who oppose the war in Iraq of not supporting U.S. troops.

“Our son is one of those troops. Does anyone doubt that we support him?” Cote said.