BRING THE TROOPS HOME
Resolution No. 15 - Adopted 7/13/04 by the CA State Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO
Adopted 7/13/04
(unofficial text: see CLF resolutions, page 13, for official version)

[Originally presented by the San Francisco Labor Council, San Francisco.]

WHEREAS, there is general agreement in the United States and throughout the world that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction that posed an imminent threat to this country or to Iraq's neighbors, and that the government of Iraq had few if any discernable ties to those who perpetrated the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon; and

WHEREAS, the federal government has approved $150 billion in public funds for the U.S. war in Iraq, draining those funds away from domestic priorities including transportation, health care, and national security; and

WHEREAS, working families in the United States have paid a heavy price for the U.S. involvement in Iraq with the deaths of 836 U.S. military personnel - with many more seriously injured - between the start of war on March 19, 2003 and June 16, 2004; and

WHEREAS the Bush Administration has used the Iraq War and the "War on Terrorism" as a platform to advocate for restrictions in civil liberties, such as those embodied in the Patriot Act; now therefore be it

RESOLVED, that this 25th Biennial Convention of the California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO recognize the courage of U.S. military personnel who have faced extraordinary dangers in the U.S. war in Iraq and who now want to come home; and

RESOLVED, that this 25th Biennial Convention of the California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO call on the National AFL-CIO to demand an immediate end to the US occupation of Iraq, and to support the repeal of the Patriot Act and the reordering of national priorities toward the human needs of our people; and be it finally

RESOLVED. That the 25th biennial convention of the California State Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, will explore affiliation with and help actively support and promote U.S. Labor Against the War (USLAW) to protect our members, their families, communities and jobs, and the lives and livelihoods of working people everywhere.