Title
Welcoming the "Bring Them Home Now Tour to Philadelphia."
Body
WHEREAS, The Philadelphia City Council supports the brave men and women deployed in Iraq, honors the memory of those who have lost their lives in the war and the families who have lost their loved ones; and
WHEREAS, Working families in the United States have paid a heavy price for the U.S. involvement in Iraq with the deaths of more than 1,900 U.S. troops, the wounding and disabling of more than 14,000 U.S. military personnel, and the deaths of nearly 25,000 Iraqi civilians; and
WHEREAS, More than $200 billion has been appropriated by Congress to fund military operations and reconstruction in Iraq, and American working families are bearing the costs of this war, not only monetarily and physically, but because needed resources are not available, for education, healthcare, and other social services; and
WHEREAS, Prior to the initiation of combat operations in Iraq, the City Council of the City of Philadelphia, on behalf of the people of Philadelphia, passed a resolution with 11 co-sponsors on December 19, 2002, urging a peaceful resolution to the Iraqi conflict and exhaustion of all diplomatic avenues in order to avert a war in Iraq; and
WHEREAS, The funds spent by Philadelphia taxpayers on the war and occupation in Iraq could have provided Head Start for one year for 93,181 Philadelphia children; or medical insurance for one year for 421,271 Philadelphia children; or 12,192 public school teachers for one year in Philadelphia; or 6,334 additional housing units in Philadelphia, according to the National Priorities Project; and
WHEREAS, Cindy Sheehan, whose son, Army Specialist Casey Sheehan was killed in Iraq in April 2004, has been waiting to speak to President Bush outside his ranch in Crawford, Texas and has been joined by other mothers whose children have been killed in Iraq is now on the Bring Our Troops Home bus tour throughout the U.S. in advance of the September 24, 2005 non-violent mobilization in Washington, D.C. to end the war; and
WHEREAS, The Bring Our Troops Home tour will be in Philadelphia from September 15 through September 17, 2005 to reach out to military families, veterans and concerned citizens and urge an end to the violence in Iraq "before one more mother's child is lost," in the words of Cindy Sheehan, and the Tour is sponsored by Gold Star Families For Peace (families who have lost loved ones in Iraq), Military Families Speak Out, Iraq Veterans Against The War and Veterans For Peace; and
WHEREAS, Many labor unions throughout the country, including the Philadelphia Central Labor Council on June 9, 2005 have called for the rapid return of U.S. troops from Iraq; now therefore
RESOLVED, That the Council of the City of Philadelphia, on behalf of the people of Philadelphia, welcomes the Bring Them Home Now Tour to Philadelphia, and urges the United States government to commence an orderly and rapid withdrawal of United States military personnel from Iraq as expeditiously as possible, and to provide the people of Iraq with the necessary aid to secure their citizens to rebuild Iraq.
RESOLVED FURTHER, That an Engrossed copy of this resolution be presented, on behalf of the Bring Them Home Now Tour, to Celeste Zappala, a Philadelphia resident and member of the Gold Star Families for Peace, who lost her son, Army Sgt. Sherwood Baker, in the Iraq war, as evidence of the sincere sentiments of this legislative body.
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