Opinion Editorials, October 2007
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Fifth anniversary of Kucinich warnings speech on war with Iraq October 3, 2007 Five years ago tomorrow (Wednesday, October 3), Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich stood on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives to deliver an impassioned, point-by-point refutation of the Bush Administration’s arguments seeking passage of the Iraq War Resolution. For days leading up to that moment, Kucinich also widely circulated his own independently conducted analysis of the "intelligence" that the Administration had presented to Congress in support of the resolution. Eight days later, despite the warnings of Kucinich and 132 other members of the House whom he had managed to persuade to oppose this prelude to war, the majority of the House and the majority of the Senate gave the President the war powers he sought. Among those supporting the "Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002" were Senators Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Chris Dodd, and Joe Biden, all of whom spoke forcefully in favor of the President's strategy – all four of whom are now Democratic Presidential candidates. All four subsequently approved additional measures for supplemental appropriations to fund the war, as did Democratic Senator Barack Obama after he was elected to the Senate in 2004. Now, five years after they approved a war that should never have been authorized in the first place, those same Democrats are scrambling to explain, excuse, or defend their votes. At the same time, the foremost among them are refusing to pledge an end to the war, admitting that it may extend well beyond 2013. Kucinich, the only Democratic candidate for President who voted against the original war authorization and every war-appropriation since, has recently raised loud warnings, in the Congress and in public statements, that House-approved and Senate-approve measures targeted towards Iran are "dangerously and frighteningly similar" to those anti-Iraq resolutions approved five years ago. No "commemorative" events are planned for Wednesday, but Kucinich is weighing a number of requests to discuss Iraq, Iran, and the prospect of a prolonged and expanded war in the Middle East. (October 3, 2002,
Floor speech: (October 2, 2002:
Independent Intelligence Analysis: # # # Media contacts: |
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