Published on
Tuesday, December 3, 2002 by The Michigan Daily
City
Council Votes for Anti-War Resolution
by Christopher
Johnson
Voices
arguing against the nation's movement toward war found a sympathetic audience
at the Ann Arbor City Council meeting last night. Joining 21 other cities,
including Washington and Detroit, the council voted 7-1 in favor of a
resolution against war with Iraq.
Ann
Arbor resident Bill Thompson [spoke] in support of an anti-war resolution
yesterday at the City Council meeting. The resolution was later passed.
Councilwoman
Heidi Cowing Herrell (D-3rd Ward) pitched the proposed resolution as a means to
support local representatives in higher government who oppose the war.
"This
is a question that concerns the whole nation," she said. "If we go to
war there will be economic impacts on our community. There will be members of
our community who will serve in the armed forces."
The
City Council received a large audience - a couple hundred community members -
for the vote. Attendees filled every spot on the benches, parading signs of
protest against the progression toward war. Several participants presented
arguments decrying the possibility of war, urging the council to take action.
Stephen
Boyce, an Ann Arbor resident who said he participated in the Vietnam War, the
Persian Gulf War and the war on drugs, described the senselessness of
initiating a conflict with Iraq. "I've come to the humble conclusion that
the whole foul lump is not worth the life of a single American citizen,"
he said. "There is nothing in this war that will help our people. There is
nothing in this war that will expand our democracy."
The
new resolution presents several reasons for averting war, such as the loss of
life on both sides of the conflict, the diversion of local tax money outside
the community, the potential change in national policy toward preemptive
strikes in other cases and the opposition presented by Ann Arbor's elected
officials in Congress.
"It
is the people who are not in agreement at this time that we are trying to
convince and the majority of (those who serve in) Congress that did not oppose
unilateral action," Herrell said.
Most
council members, including Margie Teall (D-4th Ward), expressed an emphatic
approval of the resolution.
"These
are voices that need to be heard, and if we can be that avenue, I encourage it
and support it," she said.
Joan
Lowenstein (D-2nd Ward) supported the proposal, but cautioned against continued
resolutions regarding national policy. "I think the City Council can
provide moral support in resolution," she said. "But our power to use
resolution should be used sparingly."
Mike
Reid (R-2nd Ward), who cast the lone dissenting vote opposing the resolution,
said Iraq presents too significant a problem for the federal government to
leave unchecked.
"We
would be remiss if we expect actions in Iraq and the export of terrorism has
not affected our day-to-day lives," he said. "If we yield to the
temptation of picking out one issue here, we will fall into the problem of
addressing all of them."