[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 44 (Thursday, April 18, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E588-E589]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            NEW THOUGHTS TO MEET THE CHALLENGES ON TERRORISM

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. DENNIS J. KUCINICH

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 18, 2002

  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, this Saturday, thousands of American 
citizens will gather in Washington, DC to challenge the open-ended war 
the United States is now waging. They are right to do so, and the 
broader American public would do well to listen.
  Congress authorized a police action to apprehend the conspirators 
behind the September 11 attack. Congress did not declare war because 
the President did not ask Congress to declare war. Yet, the 
Administration is conducting itself as if it were engaged in a declared 
war, sending military special operations forces to many new countries 
and ramping up defense spending. The Administration's budget contains 
real, inflation-adjusted spending increases only for military spending. 
Non-military spending is projected to remain flat, and funding for many 
important programs is decreased, in spite of growing unmet needs. The 
list of national priorities from which the Administration has taken 
away federal funds includes education, housing for the elderly, health 
care, and transportation.
  This war footing will ultimately make the world a more dangerous 
place. Already, the Administration has derailed efforts to negotiate

[[Page E589]]

the termination of North Korea's missile program and undermined efforts 
by President Khatami and other pro-reform Iranians to moderate the 
policies of Islamic fundamentalists in Iran. The Administration's 
unilateral intention to withdraw from the Anti-Ballistic Missile 
Treaty, its abandonment of efforts to pass a Comprehensive Test Ban 
Treaty, and its refusal to negotiate enforcement mechanisms for the 
Biological Weapons Convention will only compound this instability.
  The protestors are also concerned about having civil liberties and 
basic rights undermined at home. The USA PATRIOT Act, which 65 of my 
colleagues and I opposed, allows widespread wiretapping and internet 
surveillance without judicial supervision. It also allows secret 
searches without a warrant and gives the Attorney General the power to 
determine what is and isn't a domestic terrorist group. The law allows 
the U.S. government to imprison suspected terrorists for an indefinite 
period of time without due process or access to family members or 
lawyers. Last November, the President announced his intention to 
establish military tribunals as well. The Administration remains 
confused about extending internationally recognized treatment under the 
Geneva Convention.
  The protestors' central observation is that these actions will likely 
have the opposite effect of what is intended--U.S. efforts intended to 
quell international terrorism will provoke more of it. History is 
replete with the unintended and counterproductive consequences of U.S. 
action: the U.S.-led embargo of Iraq, which has led to the deaths of 
thousands of Iraqi civilians, has solidified Saddam Hussein's hold on 
power. Our government secretly sponsored anti-Soviet fundamentalists in 
Afghanistan and this led to the rise of the Taliban and their harboring 
of Osama bin Laden.
  The path to ending terrorism, whether by individuals, organizations 
or nation states, is a foreign or domestic policy based on social and 
economic justice--not corporate concerns. This is the hopeful premise 
of H.R. 2459, a bill to create a Department of Peace. This Cabinet-
level Department would serve to promote nonviolence as an organizing 
principle in our society. We should treat others as we would want them 
to treat us. We should follow international law, if we want others to 
do so. We should practice non-violence and encourage non-violent 
conflict resolution whenever possible. We should stop supporting 
repressive regimes, if we want democracy to flourish.
  But that is not the path the Administration has chosen. Those 
gathering in Washington, DC believe we cannot stop terrorism with an 
open-ended, permanent war. They believe the time has come for new 
thinking in meeting the challenges of terrorism. I believe they are 
right.

                          ____________________