U.S.
Conference of Mayors Calls for Moving Money from Pentagon to Cities
For Immediate Release Monday, June 26, 2017 - 12:30pm
Organization Profile: CODEPINK
Contact: Medea Benjamin, medea@codepink.org, 415-235-6517
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Conference of Mayors on Monday unanimously
passed three resolutions opposing the military-heavy Trump budget proposal, a
proposal that calls for an additional $54 billion to the Pentagon by slashing
anti-poverty and environmental programs. Instead, the mayors urge Congress and
the President to move funding in the opposite direction, out of the military
and into human and environmental needs.
The resolutions were passed by the 253 mayors—Democrats,
Republicans and independents—attending the conference. CODEPINK will use this
victory to continue passing similar resolutions in cities not represented at
the conference.
"We are very excited that the entire US Conference of
Mayors, from major metropoles such as New York City and Los Angeles to small
rural townships, understand that the resources being sucked up by the Pentagon
to wage endless wars overseas should be used to address our crumbling
infrastructure, the climate crisis and poverty at home and abroad. Congress and
the Trump administration should listen to these mayors, as they reflect the
needs and hopes of their constituents, not the greed of corporate donors,"
said Medea Benjamin of CODEPINK, whose group helped pass the resolution from
Ithaca, NY that was adopted by the conference.
"The Peace Council applauds the resolve of major city
mayors to dramatically cut the U.S. military budget and to take the funds saved
to provide money for jobs, education, housing, transportation, seniors, youth,
rebuild our roads, bridges, public transportation much more," said Henry
Lowendorf of the US Peace Council, a group that helped pass the resolution from
New Haven that the conference also adopted. "The mayors understand how
pouring the wealth of our great country into building war machines and waging
wars around the globe does not make us more secure."
Jackie Cabasso of Cities for Peace promoted Resolution 79,
submitted by 18 mayors, which calls on President Trump to lower nuclear
tensions, prioritize diplomacy, and redirect nuclear weapons spending to meet
human needs and address environmental challenges.
"These three resolutions should be read carefully by every
member of Congress," said David Swanson, director of World Beyond War, a
groups that helped pass similar resolutions around the country. "These are
the considered statements of the mayors of this country, as prompted by the
citizens of numerous cities that moved their city councils to pass similar
resolutions and their mayors to support these."
###
CODEPINK is a women-initiated grassroots peace and social
justice movement working to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, stop new
wars, and redirect our resources into healthcare, education, green jobs and
other life-affirming activities. CODEPINK rejects foreign policies based on
domination and aggression, and instead calls for policies based on diplomacy,
compassion and a commitment to international law. With an emphasis on joy and
humor, CODEPINK women and men seek to activate, amplify and inspire a community
of peacemakers through creative campaigns and a commitment to non-violence.
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/44182-trump-is-quietly-expanding-all-of-obamas-wars
Soldiers in Basra. (photo: PA)
Trump
Is Quietly Expanding All of Obama's Wars
By Abigail Tracy, Vanity
Fair
17 June 17
The president has agreed to increase troops in Afghanistan.
On
the campaign trail, Donald Trump pitched Americans on an
immiscible foreign-policy agenda, combining elements of staunch isolationism
and a rejection of Bush-era interventionism with promises to “bomb
the shit out of ISIS.” But in his four months as president, Trump,
characteristically, has done something of a 180-degree turn. He turned over
much of his military policy and decision-making to the same “embarrassing”
generals he previously claimed to know more than; he authorized a missile strike and
boots on the ground in Syria, a country he had repeatedly warned against
getting involved with; and he increased troop levels in Iraq, doubling down on
a tactic he had called “a horrible mistake.”
Now,
the Trump administration is considering sending more troops into the war in
Afghanistan, which he previously called “a
complete waste.” On Tuesday, the president gave Defense Secretary James
Mattis the authority to determine the number of troops in
Afghanistan, The New York Times reports, a rejection of the
management levels adopted by the Obama administration.
With
the new latitude, the Pentagon is expected to send as many as 4,000 new troops
to fight al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, according to an
Associated Press report citing a Trump administration official. But as was the
case with Trump’s decision to strike Syria, it is unclear whether the move is
part of any broader military strategy. Bloomberg’s Eli Lake reports that while
Trump signed off on the cap removal, he has yet to sign off on a plan. The
president also has yet to present his strategy to destroy ISIS, which he gave
Mattis 30 days to devise shortly after the inauguration. Mattis
reportedly turned in his plan on
February 27, but Trump has not publicly modified or approved it.
This
dynamic has left some lawmakers frustrated. During a meeting last week in which
Mattis conceded to the Senate Armed Services Committee that the U.S. is “not
winning in Afghanistan right now,” John McCain derided the
delay of a broader strategy. “We are now six months into this administration;
we still haven’t got a strategy for Afghanistan,” the Arizona senator said. “It makes it hard for
us to support you when we don’t have a strategy. We know what the strategy was
for the last eight years—don’t lose. That hasn’t worked.”
Mattis
responded, “We are putting it together now, and there are actions being taken
to make certain that we don’t pay a price for the delay,” he said. “We
recognize the need for urgency, and your criticism is fair, sir.”
C 2015 Reader Supported News
Donations can be sent
to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD
21218. Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski2001 [at] comcast.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
"The master class
has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles.
The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject
class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their
lives." Eugene Victor Debs
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