Kucinich, in Oregon, warns of another Vietnam
Originally published in Bend.com
Kucinich, in Oregon, warns of another Vietnam
From Bend.com news sources
Posted: Monday, April 5, 2004 10:32 PM
April 5 - PORTLAND - In the wake of the deadliest 48 hours of the U.S. occupation of Iraq, Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich warned Monday that the continuing U.S. military engagement there "will seem like Vietnam all over again."
"The messages we're hearing today â€" ‘stay the course,' ‘as long as it takes,' â€" are the same messages were heard then," Kucinich said. It was
a "failed strategy" then, he said, and it is a failed strategy now.
"This has to stop," Kucinich said at a news conference in Portland. "The (Republican) Administration needs to recognize that Iraq
is a dead end," Kucinich told reporters, and his own Democratic Party "needs to take a strong stand against the war and in support of bringing
our troops home."
Kucinich, the last remaining challenger to presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry, said, "It was wrong to go, and
it's wrong to stay."
Pointing the mounting death toll of U.S. military personnel, Kucinich said, "More than 600 brave men and women have lost their lives, and the violence continues to escalate. It's time to reach out to the world community, bring in U.N. peacekeepers, and bring our troops home."
Kucinich's comments came amid reports that more than 1,000 U.S. Marines were poised to wage an assault against opposition forces in the city of
Fallujah and other U.S. troops and Apache helicopters were engaged in battles in other Iraqi cities, including the capital of Baghdad, where seven U.S. soldiers were killed Sunday.
The policy of attacks and counter-attacks will not lead to a resolution of deep-seated problems, Kucinich said, "only to a deepening of the war and even more losses."
"It's time for an entirely new direction," Kucinich argued, one that must be led by the Democratic Party if it hopes to defeat President Bush in the November election.
"The Democratic Party must stand for peace," he said. "That's why I have continued to remain in this race â€" to persuade the Party that Americans are fed up with the failed policies of a ‘war president' and want something more than a Democratic version of a Republican war."
Kucinich, a Congressman from Ohio, led the fight on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives to oppose the Administration's war authorization resolution in 2002. He managed to win the support of 126 other House Democrats who voted against the resolution.
For information about the National campaign: http://www.kucinich.us
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