E-Mail This Article to a Friend BALLOTS NOT BULLETS Next November, vote "no" on war BY MIKE MILIARD

George W. Bush sneeringly dismisses the millions upon millions who’ve protested the Iraq war as a "focus group." And when confronted with survey data that show a majority of Americans favoring at least partial withdrawal, he makes it clear that he doesn’t govern according to polls.

But "we do govern according to elections" says Harold Hubschman, co-founder of HomeFromIraqNow.org. To that end, the Brookline political consultant is trying to get a binding initiative on Massachusetts ballots next November that, if passed (and then passed by the legislature), could forbid Mitt Romney from sending any more National Guard troops to Iraq. It’s a novel gambit. "This is the first time, to my knowledge, that voters will ever have an opportunity to vote to end a war," says Hubschman.

In 1990, the Supreme Court ruled in Perpich v. Department of Defense that, while the federal government is empowered to call up guardsmen, state governors can refuse deployment of their state’s troops if it would interfere with the guard’s ability to deal with its mission at home. Hurricane Katrina–ravaged Louisiana, with 35 percent of its National Guard serving in Iraq, is one powerful example of such a situation.

So Home From Iraq Now drafted a ballot initiative whose wording prohibits Romney — or whoever is governor after the 2006 election — from deploying Massachusetts National Guard troops to any foreign destination without approval of the state legislature, and calls on him (in a separate, non-binding clause) to use all legal means to recall federalized Massachusetts guardsmen currently in Iraq. Twenty-three other states have voter-sponsored ballot-initiative processes, and the hope is that success in Massachusetts will eventually lead to a nationwide referendum on the war.

But there are hurdles to overcome on the way. While voter-approved initiatives compel the state legislature to act on their wording, even if the referendum passes, Romney could still veto it. (Don’t doubt that he would.)

But if its practical aims don’t come about, the symbolic sway of a vote like this is still powerful, says Hubschman. "The vote is legally restricted to the issue of sending new National Guard troops, but it’s clear that voter support means that it’s time to end [the war]."

Time is tight. A hundred-thousand signatures are required to get the initiative’s language on the ballot, and they’re needed soon. Home From Iraq Now is depending on the Internet to augment more traditional petitioning methods, but hard copies of signed petitions need to be received by this Saturday, says Hubschman. "We have a lot of volunteers out there, collecting signatures: Military Families Speak Out, Mass Peace Action, Veterans for Peace, United for Justice With Peace, different Unitarian Universalist congregations. But we’re not going to be able to make it unless we get a lot of people coming in over the Internet, downloading the petition, and sending it in to us."

Download the petition at http://homefromiraqnow.org/and mail it to HomeFromIraqNow.org, Petition C, PO Box 431, Brookline, MA, 02446-0004 no later than Friday, November 18.