Talk of war

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Caption: Students and teachers from St. Mary School in Guttenberg, Iowa, salute with flags as the casket of U.S. Army Reserve Cpl. Stephen Shannon, 21, is carried from St. Mary Church Feb. 9. Shannon died Jan. 31 of injuries he sustained when the armored vehicle he was driving was hit by rocket grenade fire in Iraq Jan. 30. The Iowa state Senate Feb. 13 passed a resolution 50-28 opposing President Bush's new Iraq war strategy. The resolution decried the strategy as leaving the U.S. military "dangerously weakened."

The same day, the California Senate approved a resolution 22 to 14 calling for a halt to boosting the number of troops in Iraq, and Vermont's upper and lower houses passed resolutions telling Congress and President Bush it was time "to commence immediately the orderly withdrawal of American military forces from Iraq." The resolution approved in Iowa said U.S. troops have served bravely in the region but are burdened with a flawed policy.

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