Referendums aimed at getting U.S. troops out of Iraq will be on ballots across the state April 4, but the ramifications of a yes or no vote on such resolutions remain unclear.
Madison's ballot will feature a referendum that asks simply, 'Should the United States bring all military personnel home from Iraq now'?
UW-Madison political science professor John Witte said he expects the referendum to succeed in Madison, a longtime hotbed of anti-war activity. However, according to Witte, Madison voters calling for immediate withdrawal from Iraq will likely have little affect on U.S. policy in Iraq.
President Bush is the only person who can decide whether to withdraw from Iraq. Not even a successful referendum in Congress could directly affect U.S. policy.
According to Witte, however, a victory for the referendum would be a public relations triumph for those opposed to the war.
'The point is to put political pressure on the president,' Witte said.
Three local Republicans recently established a political action committee titled 'Vote NO to Cut and Run, Let Our Troops Get 'er Done.' The group was launched as a direct response to the referendum and its supporters.
Sam Johnson, spokesperson for the Republican Party of Dane County and one of the group's founding members, said the Madison referendum has serious implications for the war in Iraq.
'It will be used as leverage, if they succeed, to take it to a national level,' Johnson said. 'Our enemies abroad will see this, the U.S. weakening resolve, and resort to more violence and more mayhem.'
Johnson said the people who rallied to collect the 20,000 signatures necessary to get the referendum on the ballot are not representative of local Democrats as a whole.
'I think the groups that are supporting it are more radical than the Joe Six-pack,' Johnson said. 'These people are really anti-military people, motivated by an intense hatred of the President.'
He added that through personal experience he knew most troops are opposed to a referendum.
However, Democratic Party of Dane County chair Wayne Bigelow countered Johnson's claim.
'I've talked to a fair number of National Guard folk who were there and they think [the war] isn't very successful,' Bigelow said. 'He's got his people he talks to, I've got my people.'
Bigelow added that a referendum has a place on the ballot with or without military support.
'It isn't just what the warriors think, it's what we think,' Bigelow said. 'We pay for the war, and it's our children who go there, and we have the right to have something to say about it.'
