Kucinich Responds to President's Remarks |
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| FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE September 7, 2003 |
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| Congressman
Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH), who led the opposition to the war against
Iraq in the House, issued the following response to the President's
remarks:
"Rather than acknowledging the failures of his policies, and the fact that Iraq had nothing to do with September 11, and that there were no weapons of mass destruction, the President this evening attempted to compound his blunders by deepening America's involvement in Iraq. "He seems to forget that he attempted to drag the entire world into this using claims that had no basis in fact - the same world that he now has to go back to lacking credibility and having squandered the good will that was there two years ago. "It's time to get the UN in and the US out! The Bush Administration's arrogant occupation of Iraq has harmed the United States' position in the world community, caused the deaths of 289 American soldiers at last count, and diverted tens of billions of dollars from domestic needs. Now the President is asking for another $87 billion. Even with that, he will not be able to achieve his objectives. "We must allow the UN to take over peacekeeping operations in the country. The UN must take over management, accounting, and distribution to the Iraqi people of Iraq's oil profits. There must be no privatization of the Iraqi oil industry. The UN must handle the awarding of all contracts for the rebuilding of Iraq so that there can be no more sweetheart contracts for companies like Halliburton. "The President has been unable to produce evidence that this war was fought over weapons of mass destruction. It is not too late for him to prove that it was not fought over oil. That can be done by returning control of the oil to the Iraqi people."
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