The lone dissenter: "`Traitor,' `coward,' `communist.'.

• Author: Nichols, John
• Position: War on terrorism, United States

Choose the name, I've been called it in the last few weeks," says Representative Barbara Lee, Democrat of California. "Some of it has been very harsh, very harsh."

The Congresswoman's voice trails off. Along with the name-calling came threats on her life. She moves around Washington these days shadowed by a plainclothes police officer who has been assigned to serve as a `round-the-clock bodyguard.

What did Lee do to earn such threats? On September 14, she, voted against the House bill that granted President Bush broad authority to use force to counter the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. She was the sole member of Congress to do so. "I am convinced," she said on the House floor, "that military action will not prevent further acts of international terrorism against the United States."

In the face of polls suggesting that close to 90 percent of Americans favored some use of force in response to the attacks, Lee's dissent was risky. "Obviously, this was not a poll-driven decision," she jokes.

Lee objected to several aspects of the resolution. "It did not identify who we were to be fighting," she says. "It did not contain an end strategy. The bottom line is to save lives and to make the world a more peaceful place. We can't do that by moving in a direction that will create a cycle of violence. As a nation, we've got to understand the implications of what we are doing."

She also objected to Congress abdicating its constitutional role. "Congress," she argues, "has a responsibility to step back and say, `Let's not rush to judgment.' Let us insist that our democracy works by ensuring the checks and balances are in place and that Congress is part of the decision-making process in terms of when we go to war and with whom. This resolution really took away that ability of Congress to play a role, and I don't think that's a good thing. I think we disenfranchised the American people."

Before casting her vote, Lee consulted with former Representative Ron Dellums, whose seat she now occupies. A champion of peace and social justice, Dellums shared her horror at the attack. And like Lee, he was concerned about the prospect of an extended war and about the erosion of congressional power.

She also relied on her religious faith. "I take my faith seriously," says the devout Christian. "I'm not going to wave the Bible. I don't use religion to force my views on others. But let me tell you: I am a person of deep faith. I think my vote...