Bush's 'Chilling' Warning to Iran Sounds Like Iraq All Over Again, Kucinich Says
The following is a press release from April 23, 2004, by the Kucinich campaign
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Bush's 'Chilling' Warning to Iran Sounds Like Iraq All Over Again, Kucinich Says
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 23, 2004
Contact: Matt Harris, (216) 403-3980, press@kucinich.us, Terre Lundy, (515) 988-5534
At a time when the United States should be working to quell the growing tensions and escalating violence in Iraq, President Bush's warning yesterday to the government of neighboring Iran -- "they will be dealt with" -- sounds chillingly reminiscent of similar warnings in the months leading up to the invasion of Iraq, Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich said today.
"If the President is preparing to launch another war," Kucinich said, "the American people need to know that. If he's not planning to do that, why on earth is he ratcheting up the rhetoric in a way that can only heighten the tensions in the Middle East?"
In a speech to American newspaper executives in Washington yesterday, Bush warned that that any attempt by Tehran to begin developing a nuclear weapons program would be "intolerable." Bush said the foreign ministers of Great Britain, France and Germany "have interceded on behalf of the civilized world to talk plainly to the Iranians. My job is to make sure that they speak as plainly as possible to the Iranians and that they made absolutely clear that the development of a nuclear weapon in Iran is intolerable and a program is intolerable; otherwise, they will be dealt with, starting through the United Nations."
"We‚ve heard that language before," Kucinich said. "We heard warnings about nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction in Iraq -- which didn't exist. We heard promises that we would go to the United Nations in an effort to avoid going to war. We've heard the words 'intolerable' and 'they will be dealt with' before."
Remarks like those made by Bush "can only fuel an already explosive situation and compound the debacle of Iraq." Such words also have the potential of uniting Iraqi and Iranian Muslims in an otherwise unlikely alliance, Kucinich said.
"We should be talking about how to bring our troops home as soon as possible," Kucinich said, "not creating an environment of even more uncertainty and greater peril." Bush's "get tough" attitude is what led the United States into the quagmire of Iraq in the first place, Kucinich said. "It's time for a 'get out' attitude on the part of the Republican administration and the leadership of the Democratic Party."
Iran has denied charges that it is trying to develop nuclear weapons, saying its atomic program is for peaceful energy-generating purposes.
For information about the National campaign: http://www.kucinich.us
For Congressman Kucinich's Schedule: http://www.kucinich.us/schedule.htm.
To schedule an interview with Kucinich or a spokesperson: jonathans@kucinich.us
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