Sarah
2004-02-26 16:56:34 UTC
KUCINICH: ALARMING STATEMENTS BY IRAQI AND U.S. LEADERS REVEAL DECEIT,
ESCALATION THREATS AND PROLONGED OCCUPATION STRATEGY
For Immediate Release: February 25, 2004
Ohio Congressman and Democratic presidential candidate Dennis J.
Kucinich today drew attention to published yet all-but ignored reports
that reveal the continuing, possibly escalating threat facing the U.S.
military, as well as the prospect of diverting even more tens of
billions of dollars to continue the occupation of Iraq.
Recent statements to foreign journalists by Iraqi leaders and the
former head of the U.S. civilian presence there have received little
or no attention in the U.S. press, but, taken together, they paint a
picture of deceit, threatened civil uprisings, and a prolonged
occupation that could last for decades.
In separate interviews in recent days, Iraqi Shiite Leader Seyyid
AliAl-Sistani warned that he would call for an intifada (uprising) if
American soldiers stayed in Iraq after the handover of power on June
30,2004; and Ahmed Chalabi, the head of the Iraqi National Congress
(INC), said he was willing to take full responsibility for the INC's
role in providing misleading intelligence to the President, Congress
and the American public.
At the same time, retired Gen. Jay Garner, who was in charge of
planning and administering postwar reconstruction from January through
May 2003, compared U.S. goals in Iraq to U.S. military bases in the
Philippines between 1898 and 1992. "Look back on the Philippines
around the turn of the 20th century: they were a coaling station for
the navy, and that allowed us to keep a great presence in the Pacific.
That's what Iraq is for the next few decades: our coaling station that
gives us great presence in the Middle East."
"At every step along the way, we have been lied to and misled," said
Kucinich. "We were lied to about the reasons for going to war, the
cost, the length of our occupation, and the real long-term agenda of
the Bush Administration. Every American citizen should be outraged."
Statements to the London Daily Telegraph by Chalabi, whose INC
received millions of dollars in taxpayer money over the past decade,
strongly suggest he collaborated in providing the bad intelligence on
which the U.S. invaded Iraq. "As far as we're concerned, we've been
entirely successful," he told the newspaper. "That tyrant Saddam is
gone and the Americans are in Baghdad. What was said before is not
important. The Bush administration is looking for a scapegoat. We're
ready to fall on our swords if he wants."
His admission to the newspaper gives support and evidence to those who
suspect that Chalabi conspired with his supporters in and around the
administration to take the United States to war on pretenses they
knew, or had reason to know, were false.
The Telegraph reported that Chalabi merely shrugged off accusations
his group had deliberately misled the administration. "We are heroes
in error," he said.
Sistani, meanwhile, spoke to the German magazine Der Spiegel and said:
"The U.S. presence in Iraq should not be prolonged. The Iraqi public
knows how to act. If the U.S. presence is drawn out longer than
necessary, I will call for an intifada." The necessary posters
reportedly have already been printed and are awaiting distribution to
every corner of the country. "There's been enough deception and more
than enough bloodshed," said Kucinich, "but there continues to be no
end in sight."
Kucinich has said that if he is elected, he will implement a plan to
withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq within 90 days.
Kucinich has proposed a 10-point plan to deal with the Iraq
occupation:
1. The United States must ask the United Nations to manage the oil
assets of Iraq until the Iraqi people are self-governing.
2. The United Nations must handle all the contracts: No more
Halliburton sweetheart deals, No contracts to Bush Administration
insiders, No contracts to campaign contributors. All contracts must be
awarded under transparent conditions.
3. The United States must renounce any plans to privatize Iraq. It is
illegal under both the Geneva and the Hague Conventions for any nation
to invade another nation, seize its assets, and sell those assets. The
Iraqi people, and the Iraqi people alone must have the right to
determine the future of their country's resources.
4. The United States must ask the United Nations to handle the
transition to Iraqi self-governance. The U.N. must be asked to help
the Iraqi people develop a Constitution. The U.N. must assist in
developing free and fair elections.
5. The United States must agree to pay for what we blew up.
6. The United States must pay reparations to the families of innocent
Iraqi civilian noncombatants killed and injured in the conflict.
7. The United States must contribute financially to the U.N.
peacekeeping mission.
8. The United Nations, through its member nations, will commit 130,000
peacekeepers to Iraq on a temporary basis until the Iraqi people can
maintain their own security.
9. U.N. troops will rotate into Iraq, and all U.S. troops will come
home.
10. The United States will abandon policies of "preemption" and
unilateralism and commit to strengthening the U.N.
ESCALATION THREATS AND PROLONGED OCCUPATION STRATEGY
For Immediate Release: February 25, 2004
Ohio Congressman and Democratic presidential candidate Dennis J.
Kucinich today drew attention to published yet all-but ignored reports
that reveal the continuing, possibly escalating threat facing the U.S.
military, as well as the prospect of diverting even more tens of
billions of dollars to continue the occupation of Iraq.
Recent statements to foreign journalists by Iraqi leaders and the
former head of the U.S. civilian presence there have received little
or no attention in the U.S. press, but, taken together, they paint a
picture of deceit, threatened civil uprisings, and a prolonged
occupation that could last for decades.
In separate interviews in recent days, Iraqi Shiite Leader Seyyid
AliAl-Sistani warned that he would call for an intifada (uprising) if
American soldiers stayed in Iraq after the handover of power on June
30,2004; and Ahmed Chalabi, the head of the Iraqi National Congress
(INC), said he was willing to take full responsibility for the INC's
role in providing misleading intelligence to the President, Congress
and the American public.
At the same time, retired Gen. Jay Garner, who was in charge of
planning and administering postwar reconstruction from January through
May 2003, compared U.S. goals in Iraq to U.S. military bases in the
Philippines between 1898 and 1992. "Look back on the Philippines
around the turn of the 20th century: they were a coaling station for
the navy, and that allowed us to keep a great presence in the Pacific.
That's what Iraq is for the next few decades: our coaling station that
gives us great presence in the Middle East."
"At every step along the way, we have been lied to and misled," said
Kucinich. "We were lied to about the reasons for going to war, the
cost, the length of our occupation, and the real long-term agenda of
the Bush Administration. Every American citizen should be outraged."
Statements to the London Daily Telegraph by Chalabi, whose INC
received millions of dollars in taxpayer money over the past decade,
strongly suggest he collaborated in providing the bad intelligence on
which the U.S. invaded Iraq. "As far as we're concerned, we've been
entirely successful," he told the newspaper. "That tyrant Saddam is
gone and the Americans are in Baghdad. What was said before is not
important. The Bush administration is looking for a scapegoat. We're
ready to fall on our swords if he wants."
His admission to the newspaper gives support and evidence to those who
suspect that Chalabi conspired with his supporters in and around the
administration to take the United States to war on pretenses they
knew, or had reason to know, were false.
The Telegraph reported that Chalabi merely shrugged off accusations
his group had deliberately misled the administration. "We are heroes
in error," he said.
Sistani, meanwhile, spoke to the German magazine Der Spiegel and said:
"The U.S. presence in Iraq should not be prolonged. The Iraqi public
knows how to act. If the U.S. presence is drawn out longer than
necessary, I will call for an intifada." The necessary posters
reportedly have already been printed and are awaiting distribution to
every corner of the country. "There's been enough deception and more
than enough bloodshed," said Kucinich, "but there continues to be no
end in sight."
Kucinich has said that if he is elected, he will implement a plan to
withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq within 90 days.
Kucinich has proposed a 10-point plan to deal with the Iraq
occupation:
1. The United States must ask the United Nations to manage the oil
assets of Iraq until the Iraqi people are self-governing.
2. The United Nations must handle all the contracts: No more
Halliburton sweetheart deals, No contracts to Bush Administration
insiders, No contracts to campaign contributors. All contracts must be
awarded under transparent conditions.
3. The United States must renounce any plans to privatize Iraq. It is
illegal under both the Geneva and the Hague Conventions for any nation
to invade another nation, seize its assets, and sell those assets. The
Iraqi people, and the Iraqi people alone must have the right to
determine the future of their country's resources.
4. The United States must ask the United Nations to handle the
transition to Iraqi self-governance. The U.N. must be asked to help
the Iraqi people develop a Constitution. The U.N. must assist in
developing free and fair elections.
5. The United States must agree to pay for what we blew up.
6. The United States must pay reparations to the families of innocent
Iraqi civilian noncombatants killed and injured in the conflict.
7. The United States must contribute financially to the U.N.
peacekeeping mission.
8. The United Nations, through its member nations, will commit 130,000
peacekeepers to Iraq on a temporary basis until the Iraqi people can
maintain their own security.
9. U.N. troops will rotate into Iraq, and all U.S. troops will come
home.
10. The United States will abandon policies of "preemption" and
unilateralism and commit to strengthening the U.N.