[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 14778]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             CREATING PEACE

  (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, we make war with such certainty, yet are 
befuddled how to create peace. This paradox requires reflection if we 
are to survive. Making and endorsing war requires a secret love of 
death, a fearful desire to embrace annihilation. Creating peace 
requires compassion, putting ourselves in the other person's place, and 
all of their suffering and all of their hopes, and to act from our 
heart's capacity for love, not fear.
  The fight against terrorism in the 21st century is beginning to have 
the feel of the fight against communism in the 20th century, conjuring 
of enemies, scapegoating and wanton destruction. Our war on terror has 
become a war of error, so we blame the exercise, our capacity for 
warmaking. And because we have not yet begun to explore our capacity 
for peacemaking, we are reduced to a predatory voyeurism, once making 
war, watching war, being aghast at war, impotent to stop our own 
creation.
  We are the most powerful Nation, but we do not have the power to 
reserve for ourself or to grant to our allies an exemption from the 
laws of cause and effect.
  The fate of the world hangs in the balance, and until we consciously 
choose peace over war, life over death, the balance is tipping toward 
mutually assured destruction.

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