Dennis Kucinich: Cut Off Funding For Iraq
Posted in H.L. News, Main Blog (All Posts) on November 17th, 2006 12:44 pm by HL
Rep. Dennis Kucinich: Cut Off Iraq War Funding
Truthdig
Excerpt:
TRUTHDIG: I was just reading up on your [Nov. 15] appearance on Democracy Now!, in which you talked about cutting off the funds to Iraq as being the only way to make any progress there. Do you want to comment on that?
KUCINICH: Today, it was announced that 2,000 more Marines are being sent to Anbar province—a place which was already declared “lost†for the purposes of military occupation. Why are we sacrificing our young men and women? Why are we keeping them in an impossible situation? Why are we stoking a civil war with our continued presence? We have to take a new direction in Iraq, and that direction is out.
Now, there are many plans out there. The people talking about phased redeployment, the president as the commander in chief ultimately has the authority to determine the placement of troops. Congress’ real authority, and Congress’ constitutional [mandate] as a co-equal branch of government, requires that it be heard from, and I believe that Congress must exercise its authority to protect the troops by bringing them home. And the only way we can do that effectively is to vote against supplemental appropriations—which has kept the war going, or to vote against appropriation bills which fund the war. That’s Congress’ ultimate power—the power of the purse.
If we truly care about our troops, we’ll get them out.
H.L.s Take
Kucinich is right, The Democrats are in a position to cut off funding for Iraq, which will have to end the war, but will they do that? Will they respond to the will of the people, or to the people who pull the strings and shower them with money. If the Democrats do not do what the people voted them in to do, then they should all be voted back out in 2008, for candidates who will.