I just found about this group from Mike Tuggle at Dixienet.org. Apparently they want to set up petition drives to have state governor's not allow their National Guards to be used as toy soldiers for the neocons war games.

Good luck to them, they're going to start in Massachusetts and expand nationwide. Their website is homefromiraqnow.org/. Below is their mission statement.

---Sean Scallon

HomeFromIraqNow.org is a national campaign to end the war in Iraq by using binding statewide ballot initiatives around the country to pressure the administration to bring our troops home now.

We are currently in the process of placing a binding initiative on the November 2006 ballot in Massachusetts to allow the voters to decide if the Massachusetts National Guard should be in Iraq. The initiative has two provisions.

The governor is required to prevent any further deployment of Massachusetts National Guard troops to Iraq, and to use all legal means available under state and federal law to fight for the recall of all Massachusetts National Guard troops currently in Iraq.

The governor may not deploy the National Guard to any foreign destination without approval of the state legislature.

(To read the exact language of the ballot initiative, click here.)

Is this initiative legal?
Absolutely. The initiative was crafted by constitutional law experts who have litigated past National Guard cases on behalf of the state of Massachusetts and was certified as constitutional by the Attorney General of Massachusetts. Federal law is clear on this point. The US Supreme Court has ruled [Perpich, 496 U.S. at 351, n. 24] that if a proposed foreign deployment of the National Guard were to impair the Guard's ability to respond to domestic public safety or security emergencies - conditions that clearly prevail today - then the US constitution authorizes a governor to refuse a presidential request to deploy the Guard abroad.

The HomeFromIraqNow.org binding initiative requires governors to exercise that authority. Should the governor of a state that passes the initiative continue to allow National Guard troops to be sent to Iraq, residents of those states will be able to go to court to force those deployments to stop.

What about recalling the National Guard troops already in Iraq?
The National Guard troops in Iraq are under the sole authority of the president, and only the president may recall them. What the initiative does require is for the governor to use all legal means available under federal and state law to bring about a recall of all Massachusetts National Guard troops in Iraq. In other words, once the initiative passes, the governor will have a clear mandate from the voters to fight to bring the National Guard home.

What about military personnel who are not in the National Guard?
The governor only has authority over the National Guard, and a ballot initiative can only address an issue that lies within the authority of Massachusetts law.

A yes vote on this initiative will not only prevent more National Guard troops from being deployed to Iraq, but will also send a very strong message to our elected leaders that we want them to end the war and bring all of our troops home immediately.

In effect, the HomeFromIraqNow.org ballot initiative tells our political leaders "If you don't end this war now, we will end it ourselves at the ballot box on Election Day."

What about other states?
Including Massachusetts, 24 states have a voter-sponsored ballot initiative process. They are Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, Wyoming. If you're interested in getting an initiative on the ballot in one of these states, email campaign@HomeFromIraqNow.org.