In a few short weeks, the Long Beach City Council has come a long way. Not long ago, the mayor cut the microphone when peace activists tried to make a statement on a "Support the Troops" resolution. She was overruled by City Attorney Robert Shannon, who said that the Council had "opened the door" and couldn't narrowly limit the scope of public comments. This didn't prevent councilman Frank Colonna from making hostile remarks in response to the activists'

anti-war statements.

But the Long Beach Area Peace Network refused to back down, and now the tables have turned. LBAPN has been in discussions with two council members, Tonia Reyes Uranga and Bonnie Lowenthal, both of whom courageously spoke at the Feb. 15 anti-war rally. Lowenthal put an item on the Tuesday agenda which, although it only asked the city manager to estimate the negative impact war would have on the budget, once again opened the door for public comment.

LBAPN responded with a five-day campaign of calling and writing to the council, and then held a

pre-meeting rally and packed the council chambers. Some were already bandaged and bloody, prepared to “die” if the council did not approve Lowenthal’s resolution. Others held signs, including 50 with the names of cities that have passed anti-war resolutions.

Fifth district Councilwoman Jackie Kell, previously silent on the issue, opened the discussion with

a strong statement against Bush’s war (excerpted below) which caused jaws to drop all over the

chamber and ended with a one-minute standing ovation. She was followed by a long line of eloquent community speakers, all making the argument against war on Iraq.

There was initially an attempt by pro-war councilmen to walk out on the discussion. Webb, Lerch and Colonna got out of their seats and engaged others in conversations. But they were chided by some speakers and addressed by name, until they were forced to return to their seats and pay attention. No pro-war remarks were forthcoming from them, or from Dennis Carroll, who, although pro-war, stayed in his seat and listened courteously to the public.

Of all the speakers, the most courageous was Hasan Hasan, a Kuwaiti-born math professor who has been unjustly arrested three times and had his apartment searched by the Long Beach Police Dept. The second time, the LBPD turned him over to the INS in a post-September 11 round-up of immigrants. The latest arrest last summer on false charges of “terrorist threats” forced him to stay in jail 3 months until the case was dismissed for lack of evidence. Notwithstanding all this, he bravely stood before his persecutors and told them that there was no link between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein, and that in fact Lybia had tried to have Osama Bin Laden arrested by Interpol, but that then-president Ronald Reagan had intervened, calling Bin Laden a “freedom fighter”.

Although the council dodged the war issue by receiving and filing an oral report that the city manager had already prepared, it was clear that an ideological battle had been won. As is happening in workplaces, civic and labor organizations, schools, and places of worship all over the United States, those who oppose war have are finding the courage to speak out, and their overwhelming numbers and the moral strength of their position are silencing those who would support it.

From LBReport.com

East Long Beach Councilwoman Jackie Kell's Remarks

The audience cheered wildly after 5th district Councilwoman Jackie Kell delivered the following

remarks strongly opposing U.S. military action in Iraq. Reading from what appeared to be a prepared statement or notes, Councilwoman Kell declared:

I just wanted to respond to all of you out there who made signs and came down here to display them. We're very much aware of your feelings and I wanted to address what you've done here.

We know that Saddam is a brutal dictator, and yet he hasn't as far as we know committed any actual crimes against the United States. And a war with Iraq would result in many U.S. casualties.

Our own citizens who serve overseas in that war will come home in body bags. We'll have many dead and many wounded people. And then if Saddam knows that it's the end for him he may try and take as many people as he can with him. Not only will we see our fellow countrymen die but we'll have many innocent citizens in Iraq who'll end up dead, wounded and permanently disabled.

We know that our allies, we are alienating our allies, who think...that this war would be a mistake. We don't know if [British] Prime Minister Tony Blair will survive politically if this war takes place. Canada, Mexico are not happy. Germany, France, Turkey also oppose Bush's war.

United States citizens -- you, what you are doing here tonight -- are telling us, along with so many thousands of other people in the United States that this war is immoral...

...The United States has also not initiated a war. We are not a country that initiates war and it sets a dangerous precedent. Then, when after it's all said and done, we would not only spend more than $100 billion fighting this war, but we'd spend billions more trying to put Iraq back together, even if it's under a better form of government.

But I want you to know that I appreciate you expressing your views and I agree with you that we should do everything we can to settle this in a different way. There are many brutal dictators on this earth. Saddam is only one of 'em. But I don't think that we should put our men and women on the line, their lives on the line, because George Bush wants to get Saddam."

For full story, go to http://www.lbreport.com/news/mar03/iraqcos2.htm