Vermonters Pass Iraq Resolutions

The state that leads the nation with the highest per capita death rate in Iraq was also the first to hold a popular referendum on the war when 46 of 53 towns this week passed intensely personal resolutions on the deployment of National Guard troops in Iraq.
“My partner is in Mississippi right now for training and then on the way to Iraq,” said Robyn Jenks at her Putney town meeting. With a national proposal to extend the length of National Guard deployment, she said, Putney’s resolution, which passed unanimously by voice vote, was “a place to start.”
Although the measures varied from town to town, most called on Vermont’s congressional delegation to urge Congress to limit federal control over state National Guard units; they asked the Legislature to investigate the deployment of Vermont troops, and to examine the impact of their deployment on the ability of the Guard to safeguard Vermont.
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Organizers want the Legislature to form independent commissions to look at how many police officers, firefighters and teachers, for example, have been taken from communities to serve. They also want the Legislature to determine whether Vermont is still safe: With roughly half its Guard abroad, they wonder if the state would be adequately staffed in a natural disaster, or worse.