Anti-war statements have been passed in other, smaller cities, including San Francisco; Seattle; Ithaca, New York, and Kalamazoo, Michigan. Chicago, the third largest U.S. city after New York and Los Angeles, has 2.9 million people.
Military action against Iraq would cost billions of dollars, the Chicago resolution said. During the debate, council members discussed how federal budget cuts could affect programs that benefit Chicago residents.
“We don’t want our boys and our girls to go to war,” Alderman Dorothy Tillman said.
Chicago’s resolution gives unconditional support to U.S. military personnel and calls Saddam Hussein “a tyrant who should be removed from power” for the good of the people of Iraq and neighboring countries. But, the resolution continues, “It not at all clear that a unilateral U.S. military action would result in the installation of a free and democratic Iraqi government.”
A copy of the resolution was to be forwarded to President George W. Bush and the Illinois congressional delegation.
