Council urges withdrawal of troops

BY ERIC LINDBERG
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

Thunderous applause, cheers, whistles and the claps of enthusiastic high-fives filled the Santa Barbara City Council Chambers Tuesday evening following the unanimous passage of a resolution urging the cessation of combat operations in Iraq and the withdrawal of American troops.
Each member of the Council, short an absent Grant House, spoke out in favor of the resolution prior to the vote.

“This is really an important step we are taking and I’m very proud to be in a city that will take this step,” Mayor Marty Blum said.
Mayor Blum and Councilmember Das Williams made the request to place the resolution on the Council’s agenda. Explaining the reasoning behind the resolution, Williams said the war in Iraq is having a dire impact on the local community.
“Like many Santa Barbarans and many Americans, this has been a subject that has weighed heavily on my heart for a long time,” he said. “…It isn’t only affecting us ethically, but it is affecting the city budget financially.”
He listed difficulty attracting and retaining police officers, a delay in a national water bill that will provide a large portion of funding for a project to prevent the flooding of Mission Creek, and negative effects on Section 8 housing and Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) as localized impacts of the war.
“If the carnage in Iraq is not our purview … surely our budget is,” he said.
According to the resolution, the local Housing Authority has seen cuts in federal funds resulting in the annual loss of $150,000 and the annual CDBG funding has been reduced by $255,293.
Even so, Councilmember Brian Barnwell dismissed the idea that the Council should feel obligated to tie the resolution to local issues.
“It is so simplistic to suggest that the City Council of Santa Barbara needs to make a local connect to be able to take a strong moral position on the Iraq War,” he said. “I don’t need no stinkin’ badge.”
Emphatically stating that he took an oath to protect the Constitution of the United States, Barnwell said there is “no more fundamental issue this Council can discuss,” eliciting whoops and cheers from the audience.
The applause started early, upon reading of the agenda item’s title, and despite Mayor Blum urging the audience not to cheer, boo or clap, the theme repeated itself throughout the evening.
Dozens of supporters filled the seats, several carrying signs calling for an end to the war or the impeachment of President Bush and many speaking up during public comment. No one spoke out against the resolution.
“When we choose silence, we choose complicity,” one speaker said.
“Our country has been severely traumatized,” another said. “The first thing we have to do is stop the bleeding.”
“Every bomb built takes food out of a hungry child’s mouth,” said another supporter.
Nancy Lynch, a Santa Barbara resident, received some of the loudest cheers of the evening for her remark that closed the public comment period.
“You are our closest representatives,” she said. “The president cannot veto your vote.”
Supporters were out in force early, seeking shelter from the rainy weather on the steps of City Hall, where they lined up 416 military boots to represent the number of soldiers from California killed in combat in Iraq.
Dinah Mason, a local coordinator for Code Pink and a member of Military Families Speak Out, said her father is a WWII veteran, she is a Vietnam War veteran, and her daughter is an Iraq War veteran.
“I’m feeling very grateful that one of these sets of boots doesn’t have my daughter’s name on it,” she said.”
With the resolution, Mason said the city will go on the Congressional record as being in opposition to the war. Organizers of the rally said 67 other cities have passed similar resolutions.
“We need to do it on this level, the grassroots level,” Mason said.
Jim Goodnow, a member of Veterans for Peace and the driver of the Yellow Rose of Texas Bus for Peace, said he logged 48,000 miles through 31 states in the bus before volunteering to drive the boots up from Pasadena, Calif.
“To be here in Santa Barbara is so heartwarming right now,” he said. “…I must say, I respect and hold the City of Santa Barbara in the highest esteem.”
After gathering to sing John Lennon’s “Imagine,” the group of supporters made their way to Council Chambers.
Following public comment, Councilmember Roger Horton proposed a “friendly amendment” to the resolution that received the support of his colleagues — providing for the development of a plan to hand over control of the country to Iraqi security forces or UN peacekeepers, if necessary.
Language in the resolution also urges the president to withdraw American military personnel within a year; provide appropriate medical, psychological, financial and educational assistance to veterans; redirect financial resources to address neglected domestic needs; and provide the people of Iraq with non-military material to aid the rebuilding of Iraq.
Copies of the resolution will be sent to President Bush and members of Congress representing residents of Santa Barbara, as well as the County Board of Supervisors, the State Assembly, and the State Senate, urging them to adopt similar resolutions.