(Host) Towns that considered an anti-Iraq war resolution at their town meetings are overwhelmingly voting in favor of it. More than 50 communities voted on a resolution questioning the use of National Guard troops in the Iraq war.
At least 40 of those towns voted in favor of some version of the resolution. Three defeated it and three decided not to vote on it. And one town, Craftsbury, ended up with a tie vote.
In Underhill, where 53 residents out of about 3,000 serve in the National Guard, voters rejected the resolution. But in Calais, where resident and National Guard member Jamie Gray was killed while serving in Iraq, the resolution was adopted.
Ben Scotch was the prime mover behind the town meeting resolution. He thinks Vermont will set an example for other states that want to organize local opposition to the war.
(Scotch) “Where should that discussion be in formulating a policy about the use of this kind of war? It should be in the grassroots. It has begun in the grassroots today. And we hope it spreads, because if we’re going to re-think how to use our might as a nation, that discussion needs to begin where all our earliest discussions have begun, right in towns and cities.”
(Host) Some communities chose to amend the resolution before acting on it. Rochester voters deleted a provision calling for troops to be withdrawn from Iraq.