Following the Bar Harbor Town Meeting's passage of a resolution opposing a war with Iran unless expressly authorized by Congress, the Maine Green Independent Party is calling on towns and cities throughout the state to pass similar resolutions, and asking the party members to initiate and support such efforts.

The Bar Harbor effort was initiated by citizen peace and justice activist, Susan Murphy, who was very concerned by evidence put forth by Seymour Hersh, and other investigative journalists, that the Bush administration was preparing to launch an invasion of Iran.

Mount Desert Island Peace and Justice asked the Town Council to hold a special town meeting to consider a resolution, but were told that they needed to gather 234 signatures of voters on a petition and present the signatures to the Council. When the activists did so, the Council declined to accept the signatures, incorrectly arguing that the town charter prevented town meeting from considering anything that does not concern "town business."

Yet the activists persevered and eventually the June 3, 2008 Bar Harbor Town Meeting passed a resolution, simply worded as follows: Resolved that the Town of Bar Harbor, through its annual town meeting, opposes any military action by the United States against the Islamic Republic of Iran without express Congressional authorization in accordance with the War Powers Act.

What was particularly persuasive for many residents was the _link_ between spending on the Iraq war and what the town might do with the same amount of tax dollars. This data comes from the National Priorities Project (http://www.nationalpriorities.org), which calculates not only the cost of the Iraq war borne by each town, but also illustrates what could have been achieved with that amount of money if it had not been squandered on the war. To date, Bar Harbor is one of only 11 cities nationally to pass an Iran resolution, according to "Cities for Peace" (www.citiesfor progress.org). One of the other towns to pass such a resolution is Harpswell, Maine.

The Maine Green Independent Party is calling on all Maine towns and cities to pass similar resolutions and calling on its membership to support such efforts.

"This issue is critically important. We are at a point where we can be proactive rather than reactive, and can organize around preventing a unilateral war, rather than protesting a war that has already begun," according to Bar Harbor attorney Lynne Williams, state chair of the Maine Green Independent Party. www.mainegreens.org