With small cards reading “I want a vote on the Iraq War” pinned to their shirts, about 20 people on Monday stood in commission chambers in support of a non-binding referendum calling for the immediate, safe and orderly withdrawal of U.S. troops from the war-torn country.

All five Helena city commissioners, after hearing from plenty of supporters and few detractors, voted to place the referendum on the Nov. 6 ballot.

The vast majority of speakers, including some war supporters, spoke in favor of putting the referendum before voters.

The initiative, forwarded by Helenans Support for Troops and Military Withdrawal, is the first of two referendums the commission is set to consider.

A Helena couple has requested commissioners add another, calling for Congress to fund and support troops until they achieve victory, to the general election ballot. It likely will be debated in coming weeks.

John Mundinger, a spokesman for the troop-withdrawal group, said citizens need to be given the opportunity to vote on the war and make up for what he called a scant deliberation at the nation’s Capitol.

“Those of us who support this referendum believe our elected officials have failed us,” Mundinger told commissioners. “This referendum is an example of democracy in action.”

Like most of those speaking in support, Mundinger challenged the decision to invade Iraq.

“We were promised a quick and decisive victory,” he said. “We were promised we would be greeted as liberators, and that Iraqi oil money would pay for the reconstruction. Those promises were empty.”

Some also challenged officials and residents to think about the costs of the war — slashed funding for higher education; the burden placed on National Guard and reserve troops, some of whom have been deployed multiple times in just a few years; the more than 3,000 U.S. troops slain, and the thousands more returning from combat with physical and psychological injuries; and the increasing anti-U.S. sentiment in foreign countries.

Several cited Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. troops in Iraq, who last week said no “military solution” exists to solve the problem there, where sectarian violence claims scores of American and Iraqi lives every week. Petraeus said political solutions are crucial to long-term success.

“There is a sane political solution,” one man said. “And the first step is to pull our people back.”

Some who support the war also supported the referendum. John Forbes, who along with his wife has developed the second ballot measure, said he opposes troop withdrawal but wants the referendum on the ballot.

“Let the people decide, not just a small group of people,” he said.

In all, 18 people spoke during a public hearing that lasted more than a half-hour. Only two opposed putting the referendum on the ballot.

Tom Stockton said city commissioners, who rejected a proposed troop-withdrawal resolution, shouldn’t consider the referendum. Last year’s resolution was not a referendum — it would have been a statement from the commission.

He said his son is a U.S. Marine who’s served in the Al Anbar province in western Iraq, and Stockton challenged the idea that soldiers haven’t been welcomed as liberators. He said troops there have built schools and infrastructure.

“The people and the kids love them in those areas,” Stockton said.

Larry Kline can be reached

at 447-4075 or

larry.kline@helenair.com.