Sweet!
Wisc. Communities Vote on Iraq Withdrawal
By EMILY FREDRIX
The Associated Press
Wednesday, April 5, 2006; 11:59 AM
MILWAUKEE -- Thousands of voters turned out in Wisconsin to offer a purely symbolic but heartfelt message: Bring the troops home from Iraq.
By margins overwhelming in some places and narrow in others, voters in 24 of 32 communities approved referendums Tuesday calling for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.
Joy Kenworthy, 78, of Madison, doesn't mind that the nonbinding referendums have no bearing on federal policy. She was one of more than 24,300 voters in the state capital who gave 68 percent support to a referendum calling for the pullout.
"I thought this war was ill-advised from the moment it started," she said.
In addition to Madison, communities supporting the measures included the Milwaukee suburbs of Shorewood and Whitefish Bay, and the western city of La Crosse. Those voting down the measure included the northwestern city of Hayward and the south-central city of Watertown, where 75 percent of voters disapproved.
Most of the referendums asked if the voters supported withdrawing the troops immediately, and Evansville also had one urging support of President Bush, which voters rejected.
Sister Bay resident Peter Trenchard said he wasn't surprised voters in his northeast village voted against the measure. He said many people there did not approve of the war in the first place but they don't see pulling troops out as a solution.
"Logic tells you you can't pull out of there. It would be a mess," said Trenchard, 67.
White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Wednesday that the worst thing the nation could do would be to withdraw from Iraq before completing its mission.
"That would be retreating and that is exactly what the terrorists want us to do," McClellan said.
Such measures have been passed by city councils and voters in other states, including Vermont, which served as a model for Wisconsin's effort, said Rachel Friedman, spokeswoman for the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice.
The group, which helped organize Tuesday's initiatives, is already looking at ways to take the referendums into more communities. Elected officials can't ignore the results, especially as the November election season looms, Friedman said.
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