Letter on Guard pullout circulated

CARSON CITY -- State Sen. John Lee said Friday that all but one of his fellow Democrats in the Senate have signed onto his letter to Republican Gov. Jim Gibbons seeking to get Nevada National Guard members out of Iraq.

Lee of North Las Vegas said 1,500 Nevada Guard members have served in Iraq, and there are now about 300 there. He said he remains a strong supporter of the military, but it's time they came home. He said those now in Iraq should leave by Thanksgiving Day.

"Over the last few months, I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that it is no longer right for us to stay the course in Iraq," Lee said in asking other senators to urge Gibbons to join other governors in telling the president that "we do not wish to send any more of our men and women of the National Guard to the Iraqi front."

Lee said Sen. Terry Care of Las Vegas was the only one of the 10 Senate Democrats to decline to sign the letter.

None of the 11 Senate Republicans signed, and Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, called the letter inappropriate.