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Congress Overwhelmed With Anti-War Calls From "The Silenced Majority"
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Lloyd Jeffrey Mallan
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Sep 28, 2002 03:32 PDT
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Congress Overwhelmed With Anti-War Calls From "The Silenced Majority"
Republican and Democratic Senate offices report “overwhelming”
opposition from their constituents to war with Iraq. This comes as
Congress prepares to pass a war resolution granting President Bush
sweeping powers to invade Iraq.
The national news radio show Democracy Now! conducted an informal survey
on Thursday of 70 Republican and Democratic Senate offices.
Of the 26 offices which responded to our inquires, 22 reported an
overwhelming majority – in some cases up to 99 percent -- of
constituents opposed war in Iraq; three said the response was split and
just one office reported a majority called backing the war. Among the
findings:
Democrats
* Wisconsin Sen. Herb Kohl: Aides say they are receiving 1,000-2,000
calls per week with the overwhelming number opposed to an attack on
Iraq.
* Washington Sen. Patty Murray: Over 5,000 letters and phone calls were
received last week on Iraq, aides say. Only about 100 came from
constituents who supported an attack.
* California Sen. Dianne Feinstein: Staff in her San Francisco office
reported about 200 calls a day with 99 percent of the callers opposing
the war.
* New Mexico Sen. Jeff Bingaman: The D.C. office has been receiving at
least 1,300 calls a day with about 70 percent opposed to war.
Republicans
* North Carolina Sen.Jesse Helms: Staff declined to give figures but
said the “majority is against” when it comes to calls on Iraq.
* Nebraska Sen. Charles Hegal: According to aides, constituents favor
diplomacy over war at a rate of 5 to 1.
* Virginia Sen. John Warner: About 150 constituents a day are calling
into the D.C. offices. “A very small minority supported military
action,” said one aide.
"It's extraordinary that, as Senators work with the Bush Administration
to draft a war resolution, their constituents are expressing
overwhelming opposition an attack against Iraq," said Amy Goodman, the
host of Democracy Now! “Unfortunately we are hearing very little about
this in the media. These calls represent the silenced majority, not the
silent majority.”
Democracy Now is a daily nationwide news show based in New York. It is
broadcast on over 130 public radio and television stations around the
country.
For more information email ma-@democracynow.org
Freedom in our time!
http://freedominourtime.org
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