MUNITY NEWSPAPER
V E R M O N T C A S T S IT SV O T E S A G A IN S T W A R
Leahy, Sanders A~ee on Peace Stance; Jeffords Says War
s
an Option in Gulf
By
George LayngStaff Reporter
W
en the 131st en-gineering unit of the NationalGuard left Wed-nesday for thePersian Gulf,they continued the tradition established intheVietnamWarofbeingtheonlyVermont-based troopsto
participate in a major
American military initiative.
Former Sen. GeorgeAikenestablished another Vennont
tradition in that era when, in
1966,he was one of the ear-liest members ofCongreastocome out against the fight-ing. Aiken suggested theUnited States declare victoryand get out.
None
of Vermont's
current
congressional delegationhas repeated Aiken's m....sage this time around. ButSenators Patrick Leahy and James Jeffords and Repre-sentative Bernard Sandershave continued the dovishtradition in the showdownwith Iraq.Of the three, Leahy, a
Democrat, and Sanders, an
independent, have been themost vociferous in oppoaingthe use of force.They prefer
instead that economic
sane-
tionsbeused topressure Iraq towithdraw fromKuwait.Jeffords, though, is less patient. TheRepublican,whoserved in the U.S. Navy and was a reservist until lastJune, argues that now thatPresident Bush has pushed for using force, "1believe itwould be wrong to pull the
rug out from under him,"
"It
would make us look real weak," he said. Thatcould make it more difficulttoresolve the conflict.Jeffords said he opposed Bush's decisiontodoublethenumber of U.S. troops, butsaid increasing the threat isatactictheUnited States hassuccessfully used before inthe Mideast to peacefully
resolve a crisis.
Jeffords has drawn thewrath of Burlington-areawar opponents forsuchstan-cesand forthe low
profile
hehas kept during the
crisis.
Ellen Kahler, director of the Peace and Justice Coali-tion in Burlington, said Leahy and Sanders bothhave held hearinS" around Vennont to solicit residents'opinions about what theUnited States shoulddo.
Continued on Page 2
Sanders say they will fight for Congress's right to declare war and oppose any attempt by the president to begin fighting bydecree. Jeffords, too, mamtamsthat only the Congress c.andeclare war, but he wants to giveBush more flexibility
In
anymilitary action leading up to afull-scale war.Leahy issued a statementMonday charging that were heto do otherwise, Bush would beviolating the U.S. Constitution.Boucher said Sanders would support a call for impeachmentif Bush does not get congres-sional approval. Leahy, though,said he thinks Congress will voteon the issue well before forcelikely would be used, so thatissue will not ariae.Leahy said if that vote werehald today, he would vote
against giving authorization,
but he would be
in
tha minority.''Right now, the closest es·timate is that a ms,jority would support
8
use of force," he said,adding he is working to changethat.
"I
hope I will
be
in thems,jority."Bouchar said the onlylegitimate objective for what-ever the United States does isgetting Iraq out of Kuwait, al-though "clearly, we're not sup- porting any democracies."Jeffords, Sanders and Leahyall think other countries should shoulder more ofthe burden, butonly Sanders was specific. Hewants the number of U.S. troops,------------------ --, reduced to less than 200,000 -nearly a third their currentstrength, Boucher said.
Jeffords said
if
war is neces-
sary, ground troops should not be used. Rather, the military ob- jectives can be achieved throughair strikes only. This is a popular strategy because it would meanfewer U.S. casualties, but manystrategists question its effective-ness.
Another issue is cost. The
White Houae haa refused tospecifically disclose how muchthe conflict is costing, and willcost
if
ahooting starta.Sanders will support a resolu-tion being drafted now thatwould require the president toreveal
this
information, Boucher said. He said he has heard oneestimate put the annual cost at$50 billion.Leahy said exact figures willhave to be provided because before war is waged, Congresswill hava to approve an addition-al appropriation. Congress will be strict, he said ."!'here will be no rounding off to the last billion," Leahy main-tained.Vennont's congressional dele-gation and war protestors agreethat what Vermont saya is lis-tened to by the rest of the United States.
1 0 0
D o n e t
8 tJe e ~
8 0 .
B a r I I D g t o n
8 6 5 - 4 4 2 2
"Vermont has a particular
L .::= = = = = = = = = = = = = :::::= = = = = = = = ::;
place in the country," said Kah-
r
ler. "People in the country look
to
Vermont for what's right."In his meetings with theWhite House, Leahy said, Presi-dent Bush haa aaid to him: "OK Pat, what are they saying in Ver-mont?"Leahy aaid his answer has been that the state is not gung-ho for war."Everywhere I
go,
people aresaying make war the lastresort," Leahy said. •
...Votes
AgaInst
W ill
ContinUMi
{rom
P a s -
1
"Jeffords thus far has been baolutely, absolutely ridieu-lous," Kahlar said, adding theepublican's behavior was poli-tically motivated."He'. geitlflg a lot of pressurefrom til Bepuhlie8J>s not tocross the president," she said."He first and foremost repre-sents Vermonters - not theRepublican Party."Jeffords, though, argued hehas talked to every group or per-son who wanted to discuss theissue. He said he is not beingpolitical, but in fact taking apolitical riak in raising the ire of pesos activists.Kahler said a group of Ver-mont peace activists plans topress their case with Jeffords,Leahy and Senders when theytravel to Washington on Mon-day.Leahy and Sandera boththink forca should only be used when all else fails, meaning thateconomic sanctions should becontinued
88
a way to pressureIraq to withdraw from Kuwait."Force i. definitely a lest op-tion,"
said
Sanders Administra-tive Assistant Doug Boucher.Sanders did not make himself available to Vermont Time. tocomment directly on the issue.Leahy said he sees no
good
reason to go
to
war, nor hasPresident Bush made the case.Jeffords, who also favors con-tinuing with negotiations,agreed that Bush has failed tospell out this country's objec-tivea.And as the deadline for military action in the Gulf nears,
"Force
is
definitely alast option, "said Sanders Administra-tive Assistant Doug
Boucher.
80,
too. does a
8howdo~ be-
tween Congress and PresidentGeorge Bush over what role Con-gress will play in making thedecision to fight. Leahy and
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