Need to Be Consistent: Americans Care About People Everywhere
Kucinich gave the following speech in Congress on November 4, 2005:
Speaking in support of H. Res. 532, to expedite passage of H.R. 3057, the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2006, Congressman Kucinich said:
"Mr. Speaker, there is much in this bill to support, and I rise in support of the rule and the bill. This is a bill which demonstrates America's capacity to be sensitive to the world, America's willingness to feed the hungry, to help those who are depressed and oppressed all around the world.
"The heart of America is open to people everywhere. That is why it is such a tragedy that, while we simultaneously will pass this bill today, our country is involved in action in Iraq that is undermining all the goodwill that America creates with this bill. What an irony it is that we are here talking about the needs of people all over the globe and, at the same time, we are alienating people all over the globe by pursuing a war in Iraq, a country that did not attack us, based on false information from an administration that should have known better.
"So, yes, we ought to support this rule and we ought to support the bill, because the word that ought to go out, far and wide, about the United States is that we care about suffering people, that we want to find a way of lifting up people everywhere, that we want to try to find a way of making this a better world. But, as we do that, we also need to be consistent. We need to remember that we are simultaneously pursuing a path in Iraq that is wrong. We need to take a new direction there so that we can bring America's aspirations to help the world in line with our policy everywhere."
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