Administration Request For Additional $70 Billion For Iraq War
The following is a press release from October 26, 2004, by Kucinich's office in Congress
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Statement of Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH), a leader in the House of Representatives in opposition to the war against Iraq and the current US occupation, on the Administration’s request for an additional $70 billion for Iraq:
“Today we learned the President plans to request an additional $70 billion to continue a failed policy in Iraq, which now pushes the total price tag for U.S. taxpayers close to $225 billion. That is $225 billion dollars that has not gone to our economy, schools, or healthcare system.
“American troops and American taxpayers are footing the bill for a war that was never needed to protect the security interests of the U.S. No weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq and the 9-11 Commission has determined that Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with the September 11th attacks or the Al Qaeda terrorist network. Now, however, Iraq is greatly unstable and has become a breeding ground for terrorism. There are daily attacks against U.S. troops and contractors, our allies, Iraqi soldiers and police, journalists, and humanitarian workers. Our Armed Forces are drained and there is no end in sight. Pentagon officials have pessimistically predicted that just as many troops will be needed in Iraq next year as there are in Iraq now.
“We need to acknowledge that the continued U.S. presence in Iraq is counterproductive. Every day that we are inside Iraq the situation gets progressively worse as evidenced by the frequent and more sophisticated attacks by insurgents. Since the President declared that major combat operations were over in Iraq on May 1, 2003, more than 7 times as many U.S. troops have died than during the initial invasion of Iraq.
“We must end the occupation of Iraq. Our presence in Iraq is helping to create instability. It is time to begin the process of getting the UN in and the US out.”
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