Dennis Talks About Ending the Occupation in Iraq
From a speech in Illinois on March 16, 2004:
When we look at events in Spain, we see that the government in Spain went down because of its support of the Iraq war. This war in Iraq is still a vital issue in this country. The administration is talking about extending the tour of duty for our men and women who have served. They are talking about sending troops on a second rotation. They have National Guardsmen and Guardswomen and reservists who will soon constitute 40% of the people who have served in Iraq.
Right now, neither the leading Democrat nor the Republican Administration is willing to commit to a plan to bring our troops home. And I say it's time that we take a strong stand and say that we need to bring in U.N. peacekeepers and bring our troops home and end this sorry adventure in Iraq.
Soon it will be the one year anniversary of the invasion. Last year, I stood on First Avenue in New York and looked out at a half a million people who were protesting what was then the prospective involvement of the United States in Iraq. Since then, we have seen that there has been nothing but a trail of lies that led the United States into its involvement in Iraq. That Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11. Iraq had nothing to do with Al Queda's role in 9/11, nor with the Anthrax attack upon this country. Iraq had neither the intention nor the capability of attacking the United States.
Iraq was not trying to get uranium from Niger. In fact, Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction. It was wrong to go in, it is wrong to stay in. We need to get the U.N. involved and bring in U.N. peacekeepers. We need to turn over to the U.N. control of the oil to be handled on behalf of the Iraqi people until the Iraqi people are self-governing, control of the contracts so there will be no more Halliburton sweetheart deals, no more privatization of Iraq, and no trying to run the government of Iraq by remote control. We need to help rebuild Iraq to the extent that we destroyed it, pay reparations to the families of innocent civilians and noncombatants who have lost their lives, help to rebuild Iraq, help to pay for a U.N. peacekeeping mission, and BRING OUR TROOPS HOME. BRING THEM HOME!
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