DOVER, N.H. - The stunning admission
by Democratic frontrunners Clinton, Obama, and Edwards that they might keep
U.S. troops in Iraq beyond 2013 "is tantamount to an announcement of a
permanent occupation that could cost U.S. taxpayers $5 trillion and
bankrupt any opportunity to address health care reform, education, jobs, or
any other domestic policy initiatives," Presidential candidate Dennis
Kucinich said today.
DOVER, N.H. - The stunning admission
by Democratic frontrunners Clinton, Obama, and Edwards that they might keep
U.S. troops in Iraq beyond 2013 "is tantamount to an announcement of a
permanent occupation that could cost U.S. taxpayers $5 trillion and
bankrupt any opportunity to address health care reform, education, jobs, or
any other domestic policy initiatives," Presidential candidate Dennis
Kucinich said today.
In remarks prepared for a speech in New Hampshire tonight, Kucinich is
expected to challenge the credibility, motives, and fitness of the
Democratic frontrunners to serve as President "when they either voted to go
to war or voted to continue the war. They took us into this war, and, with
every vote for continued funding, they have kept us there. Now, they're
telling us we may be there forever, diverting trillions of dollars from
desperate domestic needs to financing an illegal, immoral, and endless war.
It is time to end this war, and it is time to expose their hypocrisy."
Kucinich noted that "Senators Clinton and Edwards were among the most
outspoken advocates in 2002 for giving President Bush the authorization he
wanted to invade and occupy Iraq. And, until he announced his candidacy
this year, Senator Obama supported the war every time he voted to continue
funding it. Whatever they say on the campaign trail, they have all voted in
support of this war -- repeatedly."
!ADVERTISEMENT!
"It is absolutely astonishing that these candidates have the audacity
to portray themselves as pro-peace and anti-war when their statements,
their actions, and their votes reveal just the opposite. They must be held
accountable and answerable for their roles in this illegal, immoral, and
disastrous war, and, that's what I intend to do."
Kucinich will be the keynote speaker tonight (Friday) at the North
Grafton County Democratic Party Annual John F Kennedy Dinner at the Peabody
Lodge in Franconia, NH. Tomorrow, he will be in Durham, NH for an afternoon
"Conversation/Dialogue" with students and faculty at the University of New
Hampshire.
Kucinich is the only Democratic Presidential candidate who voted
against the war authorization in 2002 and every supplemental funding
appropriation since then.
In October 2002, eight days before the House and Senate approved the
war-authorization resolution, Kucinich released his own analysis of
intelligence and information that accurately predicted subsequent events,
discoveries, and consequences. It pointed out that there was no connection
between Iraq and the events of 9/11 and that there was no credible evidence
that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. He led the fight in the
House against the war and rallied more than 120 other Congressman to oppose
the resolution. Kucinich's analysis also argued:
--"This language is so broad that it would allow the
President to order an attack against Iraq even when there is no
material threat to the United States."
--"A unilateral attack on Iraq by the United States will cause
instability and chaos in the region and sow the seeds of future
conflicts all over the world."
--"Unilateral action against Iraq will cost the United States the
support of the world community, adversely affecting the war on
terrorism."
In an interview today, Kucinich said, "Any candidate willing to
continue risking the lives of our brave men and women in uniform, continue
destroying the lives of millions and innocent Iraqis, and continue
embracing the corrupt foreign policy that led us into Iraq and keeps us
there is not fit to serve as President of the United States of America."
