Fitrakis Would Bring Ohio National Guard Home From Iraq
By Bill Sloat
The Green Party candidate for governor, Bob Fitrakis, says Ohio National Guard troops should not have to serve in the Iraq war and that the state's chief executive has a duty to step in to block them from being sent there.
"If you want us out of this illegal war, then vote for somebody who is going to challenge the president." — Bob Fitrakis |
Fitrakis, speaking during a Cincinnati debate versus Libertarian candidate Bill Peirce, vowed to provoke a constitutional crisis if he were elected by ordering the Guard to remain at home.
"If you want us out of this illegal war, then vote for somebody who is going to challenge the president," said Fitrakis, a professor at Columbus State Community College.
Peirce and Fitrakis were not invited to take part in Wednesday's debate at the University of Cincinnati between Republican Ken Blackwell and Democrat Ted Strickland. They had a separate showdown after organizers banned the third-party candidates from the U.C. debate because their poll numbers suggest they have little support statewide.
Fitrakis, trying to capitalize on polls showing that Ohioans have doubts about the Iraq war, said Ohio's governor, as commander-in-chief of the Guard, may have the legal power to block the use of state troops by the Pentagon.
"It would be the first thing I would do, immediately," he said. "The vast majority of people are now opposed to the war. It comes up in every single poll."
Peirce, a retired Case Western Reserve University economics professor, did not address the issue.
The hourlong debate was taped and is expected to be shown on local public-access TV channels in the weeks leading up to the election.
