Res. No. 336

Resolution calling on President George W. Bush to immediately withdraw all American troops from Iraq and further urging the United States Congress to reject the President’s request for additional funds for the war while at the same time making budget cuts to vital domestic programs.

By Council Members Barron, Dickens, Foster, Palma, Seabrook and White Jr.

Whereas, On March 19, 2003, President George W. Bush launched a war against Iraq, an operation that, according to the President, was intended to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, free its people, defend the world from grave danger and remove Saddam Hussein and his sons from power; and

Whereas, According to published reports, in January 2004, the Bush Administration acknowledged that Saddam Hussein and Iraq may never have possessed the weapons of mass destruction they cited as one of the reasons to go to war; and

Whereas, To date, over 2,400 members of the United States Armed Forces have been killed since the beginning of the Iraqi war in March 2003, of which over 1,950 have died as a result of hostile action, according to the United States Defense Department; and

Whereas, The National Priorities Project has recently indicated that the war in Iraq has already cost American taxpayers over $277 billion, and that the Bush Administration has requested an additional $72.4 billion in the Fiscal Year 2007 budget to fund the war in Iraq, a request that if granted, would bring total spending on the war to more than $349 billion; and

Whereas, President Bush’s request for additional funds for the war in Iraq in the Fiscal Year 2007 budget come at the same time he seeks to make drastic reductions to popular domestic programs that have a positive impact on the lives of American citizens; and

Whereas, According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, President Bush’s Fiscal Year 2007 budget calls for $183 billion in reductions over five years to a wide range of “domestic discretionary” programs such as education, environmental protection, transportation, veterans’ health care, medical research, law enforcement and food and drug safety inspection; and

Whereas, The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities also reports that President Bush’s Fiscal Year 2007 budget makes cuts to “entitlement” programs such as Medicaid, food stamps and agricultural subsidies; and

Whereas, March 19, 2006 marked the third anniversary of the beginning of the United States-led war against Iraq, and in an effort to protest the war, on March 19, 2006, many people from around the country converged in New York City to declare the Iraqi war as illegal and immoral and a misuse of government and taxpayer funds; now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls on President George W. Bush to immediately withdraw all American troops from Iraq and further urges the United States Congress to reject the President’s request for additional funds for the war while at the same time making budget cuts to vital domestic programs.

Res. No. 857-A/2005

JN