[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 8556]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     DEVELOPING PEACEMAKING SKILLS

  (Mr. KUCINICH asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, has Congress gotten used to the idea of 
the U.S. being in a war, an occupation in Iraq?
  Congress endorsed the President's actions over and over again even 
though those actions were based on misinformation and falsehoods. It 
has appropriated over $270 billion for the war. It has provided money 
to build new bases in Iraq. It has not held a single investigative 
hearing that has made one bit of difference in the administration's 
conduct of the war.
  But if the war cannot be justified, then neither can the occupation. 
Some are now content to say well, we are there, we have to stay there.
  Mr. Speaker, it was wrong to go in and it is wrong to stay in. We 
attacked a nation that did not attack us. We waged war against a people 
who did not want war with us. We have killed people who have no quarrel 
with us. We are occupying a nation that does not want us there.
  This Congress has the power to end the war. We should work together 
to set a day for withdrawal and a cutoff of funds. We acted decisively 
to get into war, we should act decisively to get out. In doing so, we 
must begin to develop peacemaking skills superior to our war-making 
skills or our world will not survive.

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