Posted on 04/27/2007 8:32:09 AM PDT by Lady J USA 1981
GOP urges a 'support the troops' rally
April 27, 2007
By Daniel Barlow Vermont Press Bureau
MONTPELIER – Republicans will propose a resolution next week calling on state lawmakers to declare "full support to our troops and their mission in conducting the War on Terror," the latest national issue to land before the Vermont Legislature this year.
The bill seeks to designate May 6 as "Vermont Vets for Victory Day" and coincides with a six-day support-the-troops rally beginning on May 1 through several communities, including Rutland, Chester and Bennington.
House Minority Leader Rep. Steven Adams, R-Hartland, the resolution's main supporter in the House, said the proposal is a response to the Legislature's vote in February for a resolution calling for the end to the Iraq War. Adams said he was disappointed that resolution didn't express strong support for U.S. soldiers.
"This is basically a thank you to our troops who are protecting our country while on foreign soil and here at home," Adams said. "They put their lives on the line for us everyday."
The resolution, which Adams said he has "had in his back pocket" since March, comes just days after the Senate approved and the House rejected resolutions calling on the U.S. Congress to begin impeachment hearings against President Bush and Vice President Cheney.
But Adams said the resolution was not in response to those votes. He said he had about 60 co-sponsors for the bill, including bipartisan support from the chamber's other two political parties.
"I'm hoping that we can introduce the resolution and then quickly vote on it," he said. "This shouldn't be a political issue."
House Speaker Gaye Symington, D-Jericho, who opposed the impeachment resolution but allowed a debate and vote to go forward this week after pressure from the grassroots Democratic activists, said Thursday that she "supports the general purpose behind" the troops resolution.
But Symington added that there is language in the resolution that may concern some lawmakers, including a proclamation that the state "will not abandon our serviceman and women in this time of war and pledges full support to them and their efforts to secure victory."
The text of the resolution also directly links the conflict in Iraq to the so-called War on Terror, another contention that some lawmakers will likely have qualms about, Symington said.
She added that the resolution will likely be sent to a committee to be rewritten, although she would like to have it on the floor and voted on before the session ends next month.
"One thing we have to be sure of is that this resolution is consistent with the one we already passed," Symington said, referring to the February vote calling for an orderly withdrawal from Iraq.
David Ayer, a Republican activist from Barre who helped organize the upcoming support-the-troops tour, said Republicans may be open to some language changes, but insisted that the resolution is nonpolitical and has nothing to do with the Iraq War.
"I defer to the experienced veterans who have been on the ground and have been fighting the war," he said. "They tell me that the war in Iraq is the war on terror. We are fighting terrorists there."
He added that it is important for the troops to know that Vermonters support them.
"It's demoralizing for them to hear some of the comments made concerning the war," he said.
At the center of the Vets for Victory tour will be retired Lt. Col. Steve Russell, an Oklahoma man who founded a pro-war organization of the same name. He travels the country now urging people to continue supporting the four-year-old conflict.
Russell, who traveled to Vermont earlier this year to speak opposite of peace mom Cindy Sheehan during the Senate Iraq War debate, was one of troop leaders who helped capture Saddam Hussein in December 2003.
In his speeches, Russell justifies the invasion of Iraq because he believes that Hussein was actively trying to make a nuclear bomb and ordered his military to smuggle other weapons into nearby Syria.
That assessment puts Russell at odds with the Iraq Survey Group, the multinational fact-finding group that searched the country for weapons of mass destruction. The group's 2004 report stated that Hussein had abandoned his nuclear program in the early 1990s and a 2005 revision declared it unlikely that officials moved weapons into Syria.
"I am very encouraged by the spirit of Vermonters," Russell said in a press release on his Web site concerning the upcoming tour. "They often get a bad rap from the rest of the country, but what I have seen is more akin to the spirit of Ethan Allen as they fight to show support for our soldiers. It is refreshing."
Gov. James Douglas, a Republican, expressed support for the resolution thanking the troops during his press conference Thursday.
"It's never superfluous to say 'thank you,'" Douglas said.
The tour begins May 1 in Chester at the Legion Post #67 from 7:30-9:30 p.m. and continues to Bennington on May 2 at the Legion Post #13 from 8 to 10 p.m. Later stops are Burlington on May 3 at the VFW Post #782 from 6-8 p.m., Newport on May 4 at the AL Post #21 from 6-8 p.m., May 5 in South Burlington at a location to be decided from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and May 6 in Rutland at the Loyalty Day Parade from 2 to 4 p.m. and then a rally at the Main Street Park Gazebo from 5 to 7 p.m.
Good to see Vermont still has some patriots there. Best of luck!!
Across the USA?
I think this rally is just in Vermont
Why not across the country?
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