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[ Presenting plain-text part of multi-format email ] FYI - March 12, 2003 New York City Council Goes on Record Against an Iraq War The language was carefully hedged, saying that the Council "opposes a pre-emptive military attack on Iraq unless it is demonstrated that Iraq poses a real and imminent threat to the security and safety of the United States or its allies, or unless all other options for achieving compliance with the United Nations resolutions calling for the elimination of weapons of mass destruction and the means for their development have failed." Though the resolution stands little chance of influencing the ongoing debate, supporters said New York City's voice needed to heard. At least 139 cities have already approved antiwar resolutions of some kind. "We are saying to the president today, you can no longer use 9/11 as an excuse for war," said Councilman Charles Barron, a Brooklyn Democrat. "There was no linkage of Saddam Hussein to 9/11; there was no linkage of Saddam Hussein to Al Qaeda." Councilwoman Yvette D. Clark of Brooklyn said she believed it was President George Bush who is sending the wrong message. "If we're going to be looking for a fight," he said, "let's fight poverty, let's fight firehouse closures, let's fight racism and sexism." The Council is overwhelmingly Democratic, and the three Republicans voted no. "For our friends out there in the country who are watching this, we should sort of sanitize the record when we talk about consensus in this body," said James S. Oddo, the Republican leader. The division among the Democrats, he said, "indicates that there is a wee bit less than consensus in this body." He added that members spent more time on this than the property tax increase last fall. pg http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/13/nyregion/13COUN.html _______________________________________________ Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk