U.S. Mayors To Push For First Anti-War Resolution Since Vietnam

WASHINGTON -- As the Obama administration readies plans for U.S. offices in Afghanistan, it's not just national office-holders who are demanding an expedited drawdown.

On Friday, the U.S. Conference of Mayors will introduce a resolution calling for a quicker end to the war and a speedier withdrawal of troops. If it passes -- a vote will come on Monday -- it will be the first time the body has formally called for an end to an military engagement since Vietnam.
The mayors' formal address of the conflict -- which is still being debated, politically, at the federal level -- illustrates how widespread skepticism about Afghanistan has become

For starters, opponents of the war remain largely Democratic. The signatories of the pending resolution include more than a dozen Democratic mayors of mid-to-large cities -- Dave Norris of Charlottesville, Va.; David Coss of Santa Fe, N.M.; R.T. Rybak of Minneapolis, Minn.; and Carolyn Peterson of Ithaca, N.Y.

The basis of the mayors' objections is not strictly the morality or strategic basis of the war, but the price tag. The resolution's first clause references the "severity of the ongoing economic crisis" and "budget shortfalls at all levels of government" as reasons to "re-examine our national spending priorities." The second clause notes that Iraq and Afghanistan are costing the country approximately $126 billion dollars per year. It is not until the third clause that the authors point to the wars' casualties. They conclude with a plea for Congress to "bring these war dollars home to meet vital human needs.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/15/us-mayors-to-push-for-ani-war-resolution_n_877817.html