KUCINICH: Americans DID NOT VOTE For Iraq Study Group -They Voted For A New Direction-OUT OF IRAQ

Congressman Dennis Kucinich just said this on the floor of the House of Representatives:

The American public did not vote for the Iraq Study Group. They voted for a new congress and a new direction in Iraq - - out. Many who voted for change will be surprised to learn some who oppose the war will continue to fund it, in the name of supporting the troops in the field.

“We will not abandon the troops in the field,” some solemnly pronounce, while continuing to fund a war that even generals say cannot be won militarily. Well, we have abandoned the troops in the field already. We have abandoned them to lies about why the war was being fought. We have abandoned them to getting shot from all sides. We have left them in a type of hell while we profess a strange love for them by keeping them there.

The money is in the pipeline right now to bring the troops home. $70 billion dollars was appropriated for Iraq on October 1st. The Administration will ask for another $160 billion in the spring. That is a total of $230 billion for the Iraq war. In less than two years the war and the so called defense budget will cost more than $1 trillion. Stop wasting money. Stop wasting lives. Bring the troops home now. Cut off any more funds for the war.

http://www.democrats.com/node/11315

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2868163&mesg_id=2868163

Make no mistake, that is what this is all about....

Let them earn some of that money...

This is, at the heart of it, a question of security for workers and facilities of a corporation contracting with the govt, such as it is, of Iraq (or any Iraq-like entity that can control Baghdad).

I am all for letting American firms drill if Iraq wants them to, but I think that at this point, the oil compainies are abusing the American people.

I personally believe that for the good of America that we need to nationalize oil.

:applause: :applause: :applause:

and we have long since come to the conclusion that we need to fix that mess and perform a strategic withdrawal. Soon. Now would be a good time.

My conscience vote in '04.

:eyes:
rocknation

do they meet after school somewhere.

These guys have SOME NERVE.
We DIDN'T vote for them....

They AREN'T cabinet members.....

Who the *UCK are the IRAQ STUDY GROUP to move in
and just elbow everybody else out of the way.

Crazy World or Carlysle World?

:crazy:

He's right on.

:kick:

Kucinich, the CBC, and the Progressive Caucus are the ONLY people who consistently, with very few exceptions, give voice to the values I embrace. Go Kooch!

The truth speaks.

He's the only Dem in Congress I trust anymore.

I'm sick to the teeth of people apologizing for the about-face some Dems are doing and saying an exit strategy isn't what the Dems campaigned on. The Dems did so fucking too campaign on coming up with an exit strategy!! And now we've got Reyes calling for MORE troops to be sent!!

Haven't we had enough of the two-faced bullshit lies from the Repugs and why are the Dems emulating them?

with the militia violence that was going on at time. He said today he open for suggestions and basically will follow the majorities wishes(or something like that). Ed Schultz interviewed him today in what seemed like a long interview for Ed. You can listen to for yourself, go to the pod-cast

The Ed Schultz Show
(snip)
To listen to Incoming House Intelligence Committee Chair Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-TX, discuss the Iraq Study Group and plans for the House Intelligence Committee.
http://www.bigeddieradio.com/index.asp

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16062351/site/newsweek/site/newsweek

Dec. 5. 2006 - In a surprise twist in the debate over Iraq, Rep. Silvestre Reyes, the soon-to-be chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said he wants to see an increase of 20,000 to 30,000 U.S. troops as part of a stepped up effort to “dismantle the militias.”

snip

But in an interview with NEWSWEEK on Tuesday, Reyes pointedly distanced himself from many of his Democratic colleagues who have called for fixed timetables for the withdrawal of U.S. troops. Coming on the eve of tomorrow’s recommendations from the bipartisan Baker-Hamilton commission, Reyes’s comments were immediately cited by some Iraq war analysts as fresh evidence that the intense debate over U.S. policy may be more fluid than many have expected.

“We’re not going to have stability in Iraq until we eliminate those militias, those private armies,” Reyes said. “We have to consider the need for additional troops to be in Iraq, to take out the militias and stabilize Iraq … We certainly can’t leave Iraq and run the risk that it becomes Afghanistan” was before the 2001 invasion by the United States.

...

Additional troops for Iraq is on the table.

on edit: forgot the first bit of the article

Listen to the interview and stop putting so much stock in a twisted corrupt corporate media. In fact he reputes that report in the interview. The corporate world that msnbc is part of want to gain credibility even if it means being in the long run discreditable. They figure we all forget they were the same corrupt cheerleaders that put us in this debacle in Iraq.

The time is now to listen to what the people from congress really have to say in their own voice and not some interpretation from a spin-mister corporate whore with a specious agenda

everything you said!

Or the closest thing to one.

I wish the the Dems would support him in another run for the candidacy and that he could win. But there doesn't seem to be any appetite to speak of for consistent, thoughtful, honorable progressives. Very sad.

He is 100% correct and I am so glad he's speaking out. :patriot:

Gates the criminal will be confirmed. Smirk will continue to call us the Democrat Party, and no one of any import will say anything about it. the media will continue to worship him. Not a damned thing has changed despite the election results.

And for the future attack of Iran, I think they have lost the opportunity.

You tell those idiot Dems who want more troops.

bring the troops home now.

Always on message, never appeasing, just telling the truth.

Bring.Them.Home.NOW!

Bet on it. It would be great to happen right away but that will never happen, so I expect it will be 12-18 months so they save Bushboy's face by not implementing Dem plans like Kerry-Feingold.

I thought people retired at 65.

Who ARE these old people to tell us what to do anyways?

"anyways" kind of gives it away.

And if Sandra Day is young enough to be on the ISG, why isnt she still performing her "lifetime" appointment as SCJ?

Instead of ushering in Alito during a Repub prez.

I call BS on this ISG.

He was my guy then, and he is still. :thumbsup: :bounce:

41's friends? The same people who brought you the Iran Contra Scandal, that's who.

Wonderful. More leaders I didn't vote for.

Who let them??

The signs are in front of all our faces.

I fear there will be no change forthcoming, at least not one of lasting consequence.

I fear we've been had, yet again, and if this happens, and the people who did not vote FOR a Democrat but rather AGAINST a Republican look up and find a giant case of "same old same old" sitting on the back porch they will turn a deaf ear next time 'round.

And rightfully so.

They want the killing to stop. NOW.

They want the troops home. NOW.

They want an honest to goodness opposition party. NOW.

They want hearings, and answers, and "what did he know and when did he know it?" NOW.

They will tell you, in no uncertain terms, to take your "inside politics" and "this is how the game is played" rationalization bullshit and shove it.

They are right, and maybe - just maybe - somebody should listen.

He speaks the truth.

It makes some uncomfortable to hear it, but it's nice to hear it all, rather than "but oh, if we leave now it will get worse" bullshit.

It doesn't get any worse than a mass retaliatory ethnic cleansing, which is basically what's going on now.

Dennis speaks the truth.

This Iraqi Group Crap is cover for Junior.

and systematic genocide & ethnic cleansing begins happening in Iraq? Or a general begins killing anyone who ever worked w/the Americans? What if it becomes another Bosnia? Should we just stand on the sidelines & let it happen? What should we do if the civil war sparks a regional war w/Turkey & Iran? I want to withdraw from Iraq too, but sometimes it feels like no one wants to really contemplate what happens when we do. Maybe it's too horrible to contemplate.

The problem is that we don't know what will happen. We do know that doing what we've been doing hasn't stopped the killing.

And we're inclined to think that it wouldn't be any worse w/the Americans gone. But honestly, it could be much, much, worse. It seems like the US troops are the only thing propping up the Maliki government, and some semblance of order. Once the US troops are gone, real anarchy could begin. Mass reprisals, ethnic cleansing, Islamic fundamentalist thugs wandering the streets & taking over the country. And if real genocide begins, are we just going to sit there & let it happen? We don't know what would happen if the US left, but I think we do know, deep down, that the result probably wouldn't be a good one for the Iraqis. There's no happy ending here. The only question is how much further the US wants to be involved in the tragedy we have created.

Stop funding the war now!

While I agree with Kucinich, the truth is more than likely that some did vote the way they did for that exact reason.

Many imo voted the Dems in just to keep shrub from causing any more harm in his remaining two years. Some restraint. It's a fact that he's still in charge, and any knowledgable person can see that the Dems cannot politically refuse troop funding. There is a clear limit to Congress' powers in the Iraq matter.

Some voted out of shame for the scandalous occurrences in the past six years.
I personally think there were dozens - perhaps hundreds - of reasons we prevailed; all of them barely adding up to a slight majority in the big chamber.
"Out of Iraq" was just one of many factors in the final results. The scandals of Abramoff and others "could" have had an equal weight in the final results. We'll never truly know. In that case, perhaps we should place a higher priority on punishing the criminals and remedying ourselves of scandal.
jmo

...O...

I don't recall a "Flee Iraq Now" referendum on my ballot.

It was the one under Republican.

bush* is a liar, cheat and thief. The Iraq war is nothing but lies and bloodshed.

Brint them home NOW!

Or are you trying to deny that prior to the midterms, according to all the polls, the majority of Americans indicated that ending the war was a top priority? And when they voted out Republicans, they were voting on the war.

While some of you got Dennis Kucinich, you lucky dogs.

Kucinich has always been a decent congressman who tells it like it is.

US Troops OUT OF IRAQ!!

TOTALLY! UNCONDITIONALLY! IMMEDIATELY!!

BUSH/CHENEY/RICE OUT OF OFFICE!!!!!

TOTALLY! UNCONDITIONALLY! IMMEDIATELY!!!

WE LOOOOOOVE YOU, Dennis!!!!!!!!

We badly need more leaders with Kucinich's vision and courage.