From the House floor in 2002, Kucinich’s Bold Stand Against a Vote for War

I was certainly moved by Sen. Barack Obama’s pre-war speech, which I recently wrote about here (take a read of what he said, it’s short), but I was really floored when I came across Rep. Dennis Kucinich’s equally prescient words in a 2002 speech from the floor of the House of Representatives. In it, he spoke out against the now infamous Iraq War Resolution, which authorized use of force against Iraq. Eight days after Kucinich spoke, four presidential candidates voted for that very same resolution: Senators Clinton, Edwards, Dodd and Biden (needless to say, Kucinich, and others in the House and Senate, voted against it).

As I also discussed previously, given that these other members of Congress voted against it (23 Senators and 133 Representatives), and that presidential candidates Obama and Kucinich forcefully opposed it, voters will have to answer the grave question of whether they are willing to support a candidate who shooed through the start to what many consider to be such a devastatingly wrong, destabilizing war. In the speech, Rep. Kucinich goes through various sections of the Iraq War Resolution, quoting directly from it, and then follows those quotations with his (concise) rebuttals (the actual resolution is available here, and is just a few pages if you’re interested in reading it; Kucinich’s full speech is available here). As you read some of the below excerpts I pulled from his speech, I would challenge you to ask:

1. Whether his reasons for opposing the war were valid;
2. If so, whether the information he uses appears as though it would have been accessible to all those in Congress; and
3. If so, whether Americans should vote in a president who either did not take the time to find that information, or did not have the backbone and/or foresight to stand up against the step towards war that the Iraq War Resolution truly was.

Here are the excerpted sections taken directly from his speech, given on October 3, 2002; and again, the sections I labeled “from the resolution” were quoted by Kucinich in his speech, and are followed by his counterpoints in the sections labeled “Kucinich’s response”:

From the Resolution-

``Whereas the efforts of international weapons inspectors, United States intelligence agencies, and Iraqi defectors led to the discovery that Iraq had large stockpiles of chemical weapons and a large scale biological weapons program, and that Iraq had an advanced nuclear weapons program that was much closer to producing a nuclear weapon than intelligence reporting had previously indicated.''

Kucinich's response-

"But the key issue here that the American people need to know is that U.N. inspection teams identified and destroyed nearly all such weapons. A lead inspector, Scott Ritter, said that he believes that nearly all other weapons not found were destroyed in the Gulf War. Furthermore, according to a published report in The Washington Post, the Central Intelligence Agency, yes, the Central Intelligence Agency, has no up-to-date accurate report on Iraq's capabilities of weapons of mass destruction."

From the Resolution-

``Whereas Iraq both possesses a continuing threat to the national security of the United States and international peace and security in the Persian Gulf region and remains in material and unacceptable breach of its international obligations by, among other things, continuing to possess and develop a significant chemical and biological weapons capability, actively seeking a nuclear weapons capability, and supporting and harboring terrorist organizations.''

Kucinich's response-

"The American people deserve to know that the key issue here is that there is no proof that Iraq represents an imminent or immediate threat to the United States of America. I will repeat: there is no proof that Iraq represents an imminent or immediate threat to the United States. A continuing threat does not constitute a sufficient cause for war. The administration has refused to provide the Congress with credible evidence that proves that Iraq is a serious threat to the United States and that it is continuing to possess and develop chemical and biological and nuclear weapons. Furthermore, there is no credible evidence connecting Iraq to al Qaeda and 9-11, and yet there are people who want to bomb Iraq in reprisal for 9-11"

From the Resolution-

``Whereas members of al Qaeda, an organization bearing responsibility for attacks on the United States, its citizens, and interests, including the attacks that occurred on September 11, are known to be in Iraq.''

Kucinich's response-

"Well, the American people need to know there is no credible evidence that connects Iraq to the events of 9-11 or to participation in those events by assisting al Qaeda."

From the Resolution-

``Whereas the attacks on the United States of America of September 11, 2001 underscored the gravity of the threat posed by the acquisition of weapons of mass destruction by international terrorist organizations.''

Kucinich's response-

"And, again, and I stress, the American people need to know that there is no connection between Iraq and the events of 9-11. However, this resolution attempts to make the connection over and over and over. And just saying that there is a connection does not make it so, because the Central Intelligence Agency has not presented this Congress with any credible information that indicates that there is in fact a tie between Iraq and 9-11, between Iraq and al Qaeda, or Iraq and the anthrax attacks on this Capitol."

From the Resolution-

``Whereas in December 1991, Congress expressed its sense that it supports the use of all necessary means to achieve the goals of United Nations Security Council Resolution 687 as being consistent with the Authorization of Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution (Public Law 102-1), that Iraq's repression of its civilian population violates United Nations Security Council Resolution 688 and constitutes a continuing threat to the peace, security, and stability of the Persian Gulf region, and that Congress supports the use of all necessary means to achieve the goals of United Nations Security Council Resolution 688.''

Kucinich's response-

"Well, the counterpoint here is this, and what we are going to be asserting on the floor of this House is that this clause demonstrates the proper chronology of international process in contrast to the current march to war. In 1991, the United Nations Security Council passed the resolution asking for enforcement of its resolution. Member countries authorized their troops to participate in a U.N.-led coalition to enforce the U.N. resolutions. Now the President is asking Congress to authorize a unilateral first strike before the U.N. Security Council has asked its member states to enforce U.N. resolutions."