I have posted to the list before against the concept of the City Council passing a resolution opposing a war on Iraq, despite being personally against the possibility of a war. As the topic emerges on the list again, a series of questions have arose in my mind as I tried to picture the potential action the Council might take: Are City Council Members as elected officials truly qualified to make a fully informed public policy statement about action in Iraq? And under what circumstances would the resolution apply? What if the UN backed a war or the weapons inspectors found arms in Iraq - would the Council then need to reconvene to act to rescind the resolution? And on what basis would they be making their informed decision - I would imagine they wouldn't have access to the information the White House and Congress would have.
If they make a statement, would it be that as a City Council, they don't ever want our country to go to war, or that we don't want our country to go to war now and under these circumstances? It seems to me that if the Council were to make a statement that at this time they want to protect local citizens and resources and therefore are against the potential war, they would inevitably have to make a series of foreign policy decisions about whether to rescind the resolution against the war as circumstances change. So would the Council need to deal with motions to rescind every time something new arose in our foreign relations with Iraq? And what about the War on Terror or the tension with North Korea? As much as I trust and admire my local elected officials, I did not vote for them to evaluate foreign policy. Michelle Mensing Armatage _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
