Peace advocates deliver petitions to Nevada leaders

Dan Kulin

Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2003 | 9:31 a.m.

Hoping to keep the United States from going to war with Iraq again, peace advocates met with representatives from local Senate and congressional offices Tuesday seeking support for the call to let United Nations weapons inspectors finish their work.

"Let's let them do their job. Let's not rush to war," said Lisa Stiller, who delivered a petition with about 1,350 e-mail messages of support to Sen. John Ensign's office in the George Federal Building in Las Vegas.

Stiller said the petition drive was organized by Moveon.org, a nonprofit organization that called for citizens to visit their federal representatives Tuesday to protest President Bush's apparent willingness to take military action against Iraq without the backing of the U.N. and before weapons inspectors have finished their search.

Susan Zink of Pahrump led a group of seven people delivering a petition to Sen. Harry Reid's Las Vegas office. She said Reid's staff members were very supportive.

"(They) asked us to keep up the pressure on Washington," Zink said.

Robert T. Herbert, Reid's regional director, said the Democratic senator and most members of the Democratic Party want the president to give the U.N inspectors more time and go to war only with U.N. approval.

But while Reid's staff met with the activists, Ensign's Las Vegas staff took the petition and said they were too busy to meet.

"We have a lot of business to take care of here and we can't always meet with every group," Jack Finn, an Ensign spokesman, said. "But their message will be delivered.

Finn said Nevada's Republican senator will support whatever decision Bush makes regarding Iraq.

After delivering the petition to Ensign's office, Stiller, Deidre Radford and James Tesmer stood in front of the courthouse holding anti-war signs.

Radford, 31, a Las Vegas singer, said she thinks people want to attack Iraq because they believe Saddam Hussein had a hand in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and they believe he is hiding nuclear weapons. She said she opposes war with Iraq because there isn't any proof to back up those beliefs.

Tesmer, 26, of Las Vegas, held a sign that read, "Please let the inspectors work."

"We can find a peaceful solution, or a solution that has the backing of the United Nations," he said.

Support from people who passed the trio was mixed. Some people honked their horns as they drove by and a few yelled pro-war messages. Harold Dugan, 54, of Las Vegas, said that while he thinks the activists are right, Bush will find an excuse to go to war.

"The government can't let the protesters run the foreign policy," he said.

Petitions were also delivered to Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., and Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., Zink said.

Berkley met personally with a group of activists in Las Vegas Tuesday, Berkley spokesman Michael O'Donovan said.

"It went well," he said. "(Berkley) supports efforts to mitigate the dangers posed by Saddam Hussein. But (she) also feels Hussein has had eons to rid his country of weapons of mass destruction."