[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 52 (Tuesday, April 1, 2003)]
[House]
[Page H2518]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
STOP THIS WAR NOW
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of
January 7, 2003, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Kucinich) is recognized
during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, stop the war now. As Baghdad will be
encircled, this is the time to get the UN back in to inspect Baghdad
and the rest of Iraq for biological and chemical weapons. Our troops
should not have to be the ones who will find out in combat whether Iraq
has such weapons. Why put our troops at greater risk? We can get the
United Nations inspectors back in.
Stop the war now, before we send our troops into house-to-house
combat in Baghdad, a city of 5 million people; before we ask our troops
to take up the burden of shooting innocent civilians in the fog of war.
Stop the war now. This war has been advanced on lie upon lie. Iraq
was not responsible for 9/11. Iraq was not responsible for any role al
Qaeda may have had in 9/11. Iraq was not responsible for the anthrax
attacks on this country. Iraq did not try to acquire nuclear weapon
technologies from Niger. This war is built on falsehoods.
Stop the war now. We are not defending America in Iraq. Iraq did not
attack this Nation. Iraq has no ability to attack this Nation. Each
innocent civilian casualty represents a threat to America for years to
come and will end up making our Nation less safe.
The $75 billion supplemental needs to be challenged, because each
dime we spend on this war makes America less safe. Only international
cooperation will help us win the war on terror.
After 9/11, all Americans remember that we had the support and the
sympathy of the world. Every nation was ready to be of assistance to
the United States in meeting the challenge of terrorism, and yet with
this war we have squandered the sympathy of the world. We have brought
upon this Nation the anger of the world. We need the cooperation of the
world to find the terrorists before they come to our shores.
Stop this war now. $75 billion more for war, three-quarters of a
trillion dollars for tax cuts, but no money for veterans' benefits.
Money for war, but no money for health care in America. Money for war,
but no money for Social Security. But money for war.
We have money to blow up bridges over the Tigres and the Euphrates,
but no money to build bridges in our own cities. We have money to ruin
the health of the Iraqi children, but no money to repair the health of
our own children and our educational programs.
Stop this war now. It is wrong, it is illegal, it is unjust, and it
will come to no good for this country.
Stop this war now. Show our wisdom and our humanity to be able to
stop it. Bring back the United Nations into the process. Rescue this
moment. Rescue this Nation from a war which is wrong, which is unjust,
which is immoral.
Stop this war now.
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