By Evangelina Garcia
July 4, 2011

During the closing hours of the 79th Annual Conference of Mayors, nearly 150 mayors met to debate and pass a policy resolution calling on a speedier drawdown of troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. The nation’s mayors called on leaders in Washington to end the wars as soon as strategically possible and bring war dollars home to meet vital human needs.

In his Presidential inaugural speech, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said, “It’s time for mayors to join the call for an end to the war in Afghanistan. We support our men and women in uniform and these brave soldiers have served our country proudly. Now we must honor them by addressing our pressing needs at home by investing in our own economy and create jobs for them to come home to.”

Mayors called for the war dollars to instead be utilized to promote job creation, rebuild American’s infrastructure, provide aid to municipal and state governments, and develop a new economy based upon renewable, sustainable energy and reduce the federal debt.

During the debate process and in the written resolution, mayors stated that 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.

To view the full resolution (refer to number 59), visit the website: http://usmayors.org/79thAnnualMeeting/documents/AdoptedResolutions.pdf