Antonio Villaraigosa in The New York Times 2010s

On War & Peace: End wars & spend in US in stead of Baghdad and Kandahar

The US Conference of Mayors passed a resolution urging President Obama and Congress to get their act together and "speed up the ending of these wars." The conflicts are costing the United States $126 billion a year, the resolution said, and the money would be better spent on repairing America's broken economy and infrastructure and on reducing the federal debt.

"It's time to bring our investments back home," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles said as he assumed the presidency of the mayors conference at its annual gathering, held in Baltimore. "We can't be building roads and bridges in Baghdad and Kandahar, and not in Baltimore and Kansas City."

The resolution could hardly be considered flamingly radical, not with its call to end the wars "as soon as strategically possible" and to withdraw American forces "in a measured way that does not destabilize the region." That's a far cry from, "Out--now!"

Indeed, "it reflects in large part what the president believes," Villaraigosa said.

Source: New York Times on 2014 California governor's race Jun 21, 2011

The above quotations are from Media coverage of political races in The New York Times, 2010-2019. Click here for other excerpts from Media coverage of political races in The New York Times, 2010-2019. Click here for other excerpts by Antonio Villaraigosa. Click here for a profile of Antonio Villaraigosa.
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