Posted by CODEPINK Staff
The following letter to the editor published in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.
I loved the poignant statement by Stephen E. Sandherr, CEO of Associated General Contractors of America -- "If you want to maintain economic prosperity, you have to make investments in transportation" -- describing the deep cuts in funding which have led to the deplorable and unsafe conditions of Pennsylvania's rural roads and bridges ("Rural Roads in Sad State " Sept. 2). This is just one of the many sad examples of how communities and the people living in them suffer when Congress, for over a decade now, has continually funded wars to the tune of more than $1 trillion.
The Anti War Committee of The Thomas Merton Center and other progressive groups here in Pittsburgh have drafted a resolution to present to city council to bring our war dollars home. The resolution is to engage our communities and elected local and national officials on the cost of war and militarism and the need to redirect funding to public education, job creation and other life-affirming programs being desperately hurt by the economic recession.
The resolution also encourages Pennsylvania Sens. Bob Casey and Pat Toomey and House members Mike Doyle and Tim Murphy to discontinue any further funding for war and safely remove U.S. troops and private security forces from Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen and the surrounding nations.
I believe the majority of people in this country are weary of war and realize the United States cannot sustain itself in the Middle East under the guise of creating democracy, ousting a brutal dictator or battling the worn-out war on terror, while cutting much-needed funds for job creation, social programs and the uplift of sections of our society that have suffered while we pay for immoral and unjust wars in faraway lands.
FRANCINE PORTER
Shaler
Coordinator, CODEPINK Pittsburgh Women for Peace