New York Times follows Tim Walz to Harmony, Minnesota
Standing Against the War, but Unsure How to End It
By ADAM NOSSITER
New York Times
HARMONY, Minn., July 21 — Congress is in a muddle about Iraq and so are the frustrated voters here who last fall elected a war critic promising a new direction in military policy.
Tim Walz, the new Democratic congressman from the First District here, has made tough statements, voted with his party for withdrawal and emerged as a leader among the Democratic freshmen who owe their November triumphs to weariness with the war.
Eight months later, nothing has changed. Though many here in this antiwar district express longing for an end, they are in a quandary about how to get there.
“A sense of confusion,” said Jane Hall, struggling for words behind the counter at the Kingsley Mercantile in this farming community near the Iowa line. “I’m at a point where I don’t know who to believe, or what to believe.”
Ms. Hall is fearful for an 18-year-old son heading to boot camp in the Army Reserve — “It’s scary” — and is skeptical of promises — “I think no matter what we do, it will be chaos.”
The voters here do not blame Congress for gridlock and mixed signals, saying they expected little in the first place. Mr. Walz is seen as a lone voice, principled but powerless in the morass; the recent all-night Senate talkfest barely registered here on the continuum of perceived inaction. And though many here condemn the war and call it a waste, only a few can conjure a quick withdrawal from Iraq.
(Continued here.)
By ADAM NOSSITER
New York Times
HARMONY, Minn., July 21 — Congress is in a muddle about Iraq and so are the frustrated voters here who last fall elected a war critic promising a new direction in military policy.
Tim Walz, the new Democratic congressman from the First District here, has made tough statements, voted with his party for withdrawal and emerged as a leader among the Democratic freshmen who owe their November triumphs to weariness with the war.
Eight months later, nothing has changed. Though many here in this antiwar district express longing for an end, they are in a quandary about how to get there.
“A sense of confusion,” said Jane Hall, struggling for words behind the counter at the Kingsley Mercantile in this farming community near the Iowa line. “I’m at a point where I don’t know who to believe, or what to believe.”
Ms. Hall is fearful for an 18-year-old son heading to boot camp in the Army Reserve — “It’s scary” — and is skeptical of promises — “I think no matter what we do, it will be chaos.”
The voters here do not blame Congress for gridlock and mixed signals, saying they expected little in the first place. Mr. Walz is seen as a lone voice, principled but powerless in the morass; the recent all-night Senate talkfest barely registered here on the continuum of perceived inaction. And though many here condemn the war and call it a waste, only a few can conjure a quick withdrawal from Iraq.
(Continued here.)
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