On Thursday, October 10, The U.S. House and Senate voted to go to war with Iraq, probably against the wishes of a majority of the American people. Many of the politicians made awful speeches defending a war vote. Maybe the worst was when Hillary Clinton said she was voting for "peace."

But Maryland activists achieved a victory against the war and showed the efficacy of speaking out. Through hard work and persistence, both Maryland senators and three congresspersons voted resounding "no's".

The Baltimore Emergency Response Network (BERN) has been targeting Senator Paul Sarbanes for more than three years regarding his support for sanctions against the people of Iraq. Many people have vigiled outside his Baltimore office before sit-ins. On two occasions, BERN representatives met with the senator to urge him to renounce the genocidal sanctions. He persisted in his support for sanctions. More recently, these vigils focused on denouncing an invasion of the war.

BERN was also one of the peace and justice organizations that brought Scott Ritter, former weapons inspector in Iraq, to speak out against the war on August 22 at Stony Run Meeting. The standing-room-only crowd was exhilarated by Ritter and other panelists. Peter Marudas, former Chief of Staff for Senator Sarbanes, attended Ritter's talk and debriefed the senator.

Citizens for Peace was formed after participants heard Ritter urge the audience to get Senator Barbara Mikulski to speak out against the war. They were up to the task, organizing demonstrations outside her Baltimore office. On October 7, Citizens for Peace organized street theater outside the office, and Bush, Cheney and Mikulski were convicted of warmongering. While "Mikulski" was on the witness stand, the "judge" determined she was guilty of waffling, so she was pelted with waffles. Mikulski's aides bravely endured the theater and demonstration, but indicated the senator had not decided on the vote.

Congresspersons from the Baltimore area, Ben Cardin and Elijah Cummings were also waffling. Only Connie Morella, in a tough election campaign in Montgomery County, went public with her determination to vote "no."

Last night's tableau of Sarbanes and Byrd in the Senate chambers going back and forth in a dialogue against the resolution was one of the more unique scenes ever televised on CSPAN.

Many people were involved in the effort to convince Maryland's elected representatives to take a tough stance against Bush's war resolution. These representatives were moved to take an unfamiliar position. Those who worked on this campaign should be applauded for their work.