Senate OKs Resolution to Back Troops

SACRAMENTO — In fewer than two minutes and with no debate, the state Senate on Thursday unanimously approved a resolution declaring its support of U.S. troops in the war with Iraq.

The measure, SR 22 by Senate leader John L. Burton (D-San Francisco), was virtually identical to a resolution that tied up the Assembly in partisan bickering for more than two hours Wednesday. That proposal was finally adopted 74 to 0.

Both resolutions expressed a “fervent hope” that the war will end soon and that U.S. troops will return home safely and uninjured. Neither made mention of President Bush or whether the war was justified.

Sen. William “Pete” Knight (R-Palmdale), a retired Air Force pilot who once set a world speed record in an X-15 rocket plane, urged approval of the Senate measure, and said he was “disappointed but not surprised that it did not recognize our commander in chief.”