[R-G] Ill. Senate takes stand against Afghanistan war

[Anthony Fenton]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-il-xgr-illinois-afgh,0,6439964.story

Ill. Senate takes stand against Afghanistan war

By CHRISTOPHER WILLS | Associated Press Writer
     5:50 PM CDT, May 12, 2009

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - The Illinois Senate has jumped into the deep water  
of foreign policy by passing a resolution that criticizes President  
Barack Obama's plan to step up military efforts in Afghanistan.

The resolution calls for the United States to withdraw all troops from  
Afghanistan rather than send more, as Obama plans to do.

"The people of the United States have indicated that this war has gone  
on long enough," says the resolution, which passed last week. "The  
Senate believes that it is not in the national interest of the United  
States to deepen its military involvement in Afghanistan."

This puts state senators at odds with Obama, who once served in the  
Illinois Senate, and with public opinion.

Polls show strong support for Obama's plan to send an additional  
21,000 troops to Afghanistan despite some frustration with the length  
of the war, which was launched in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist  
attacks. The resolution says America's focus in Afghanistan should be  
on capturing Osama bin Laden.

The resolution is purely advisory. It passed by voice vote, meaning  
the positions of individual state senators were not recorded.

Sen. Rickey Hendon, D-Chicago, said he sponsored the resolution  
because he feels the war is eating up money that could be spent on  
domestic services while driving down the price of heroin.

"What are we getting? We're getting cheap heroin. We're getting  
massive numbers of addictions," Hendon said Tuesday.

The Senate approved a resolution in 2007 calling for an end to the war  
in Iraq. Hendon said he told his fellow Democrats that if they were  
willing to speak out on foreign policy then, they should speak out  
now, even though the new president is a friend and Democrat.

"I love Barack just like all of us love Barack down here, but he's  
wrong. He's wrong," Hendon said.

Patti Schuh, a spokeswoman for Senate Republicans, said that because  
the resolution praises the service of troops who have served in  
Afghanistan, most GOP senators didn't feel it necessary to formally  
object to it.

But many felt the resolution was unnecessary, she said, and one  
Republican criticized the idea of Illinois weighing in on foreign  
policy when the measure came to the Senate floor.

"To some, it's just plain silly. What does the Illinois Senate have to  
do with escalation of troops in Afghanistan?" Schuh said.

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The resolution is SR129.

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On the Net: www.ilga.gov