June 30th transfer is 'a hoax'
The following is a press release from June 25, 2004, by the Kucinich campaign
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June 30th transfer is 'a hoax'
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 25, 2004
Contact: Andy Juniewicz, (216) 409-8992, (216) 221-6598, Ajuniewicz@aol.com
The scheduled June 30th "transfer of sovereignty" to the new government of Iraq is a "hoax," Democratic Presidential candidate and Congressman Dennis Kucinich said today.
"The continued U.S. occupation will not end on June 30th ," Kucinich said. "On July 1st, the violence will not end, the attacks will not stop, and more than 130,000 U.S. troops will still be in harm's way."
Labeling the Bush Iraq policy "a failure" – an assessment apparently shared by a majority of Americans, according to a poll released yesterday – Kucinich said, "It is time for us to recognize that our nation went down the wrong path, and we cannot continue down this path. It is time for a peace plan and an exit strategy. It is time for us to get the international community involved and to bring our troops home. It is time to bring the UN in and get the U.S. out."
Kucinich's comments came at the same time a new Gallup poll conducted for CNN television and USA Today showed that 54 percent of Americans now believe it was a mistake to send U.S. troops to Iraq. It was the first time that opinion has been expressed by a majority of Americans. During the first few days after the war began, support was as high as 75 percent, according to the polls.
Kucinich, who led the fight on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives in 2002 to block the war authorization resolution, said the war is "illegal" and it was "based on lies and misrepresentations."
"Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 or with al-Qaeda's role in 9/11," said Kucinich, whose position was borne out earlier this week in a staff report by the 9/11 Commission. "Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction. It was wrong to go in, and it is wrong to stay in."
The so-called "transfer of sovereignty" on June 30th is a continuation of those misrepresentations. "What kind of sovereignty will Iraq have with 130,000 U.S. troops still there?" Kucinich asked. "What kind of sovereignty does Iraq have when the U.S. is now selling Iraq's oil and spending the money as it sees fit?"
Under whatever guise, "the continued occupation of Iraq is counterproductive and contributes to the insecurity and violence throughout the region," Kucinich said. "It must end."
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