Ill. Senate takes stand against Afghanistan war

he Illinois Senate has jumped into the deep water of foreign policy by passing a resolution that criticizes President Barack Obama's plan to step up military efforts in Afghanistan. The resolution calls for the United States to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan rather than send more, as Obama plans to do. "The people of the United States have indicated that this war has gone on long enough," says the resolution, which passed last week. "The Senate believes that it is not in the national interest of the United States to deepen its military involvement in Afghanistan." This puts state senators at odds with Obama, who once served in the Illinois Senate, and with public opinion. Polls show strong support for Obama's plan to send an additional 21,000 troops to Afghanistan despite some frustration with the length of the war, which was launched in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The resolution says America's focus in Afghanistan should be on capturing Osama bin Laden. The resolution is purely advisory. It passed by voice vote, meaning the positions of individual state senators were not recorded. Sen. Rickey Hendon, D-Chicago, said he sponsored the resolution because he feels the war is eating up money that could be spent on domestic services while driving down the price of heroin. "What are we getting? We're getting cheap heroin. We're getting massive numbers of addictions," Hendon said Tuesday. The Senate approved a resolution in 2007 calling for an end to the war in Iraq. Hendon said he told his fellow Democrats that if they were willing to speak out on foreign policy then, they should speak out now, even though the new president is a friend and Democrat. "I love Barack just like all of us love Barack down here, but he's wrong. He's wrong," Hendon said. Patti Schuh, a spokeswoman for Senate Republicans, said that because the resolution praises the service of troops who have served in Afghanistan, most GOP senators didn't feel it necessary to formally object to it.