The Nation's Mayors ask Congress to Spend War Dollars at Home

Interesting article on CNN.com today- at the annual conference of mayor's a drafted a resolution to be sent to congress to ask that the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq be ended as soon as feasible and that money being spent on both operations be redirected domestically. According to CNN, this is the first time since the Vietnam war have mayors taken such a stand.

CNN article : here 'Nation's mayors pass resolution to 'bring U.S. war dollars home'

"As read by the parliamentarian, this is the amended resolution passed by the U.S. Conference of Mayors:

Calling on Congress to redirect military spending to domestic priorities

-- Whereas, every member of the United States Conference of Mayors and the Americans they represent support our brave men and women and their families; and

-- Whereas, the drawdown of troops should be done in a measured way that does not destabilize the region and that can accelerate the transfer of responsibility to regional authorities; and

-- Whereas, the severity of the ongoing economic crisis has created budget shortfalls at all levels of government and requires us to re-examine our national spending priorities; and

-- Whereas, the people of the United States are collectively paying approximately $126 billion per year to wage war in Iraq and Afghanistan; and

-- Whereas, 6,024 members of the U.S. armed forces have died in these wars; and at least 120,000 civilians have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan since the coalition attacks began.

--Now, therefore, be it resolved, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors supports efforts to speed up the ending of these wars; and

-- Be it further resolved, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors calls on the president and the U.S. Congress to end these wars as soon as strategically possible and to bring these war dollars home to meet vital human needs, promote job creation, rebuild our infrastructure, aid municipal and state governments, and develop a new economy based upon renewable, sustainable energy."

Why am I posting this here? Well, it's an election year after all and come November we all will be deciding whom to vote for for Mayor- I hope this November Mayor Giuliano (R) and candidate Dan Drew (D) and/or who ever else decides to run addresses the issue of the current wars this country is engaged in- whatever his or her stance-it's important to be prepared to face the challenges that lie ahead and not ignore the issue just because it seems more national than local. The wars at least have to be brought to the table for discussion even if we cannot as a community reach a consensus in the end. The other issue, which cannot be disputed despite one's opinion about whether to end or continue the current wars, although the CNN writer neglected to address this, is that there will be an increasing need for local community support for returning soldiers when they do come home.

It will be interesting to see how Middletown's mayoral candidates & all other candidates running for Common Council, P & Z and B.O.E. address these issues in the fall- and who chooses to face the issue and who does not- the point of CNN's article is that for change to take place nationally, it has to start locally.

What are your suggestions for Middletown to help veterans and their families? How would you create jobs locally & fix our local share of the economy? What would you do?

Madam Nirvana

Molly Salafia