- WASHINGTON, DC (CNSNews.com)
- Two House Democrats said Friday that Saddam Hussein's on-going effort
to amass chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons poses no immediate threat
to the United States, and that the Bush administration has ulterior motives
for pursuing war against Iraq.
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- Rep's. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) and Jim McDermott (D-Wash.)
told reporters and opponents of military action against Iraq at a Capitol
Hill briefing that politics and oil, not fear that Iraq will use weapons
of mass destruction, are the driving factors behind the president's call
for a regime change in that country.
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- "There is no imminent threat by Iraq against the
United States. Iraq does not have nuclear capabilities that anyone has
been able to specifically determine, nor does it have the ability to deliver
such a weapon, nor does it have the intent to do so," Kucinich claimed.
"It could be said by Iraq that they none are facing the imminent threat."
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- But, if Iraq poses no danger to the U.S. or its allies,
why is President Bush threatening to attack the Persian Gulf country? Kucinich
believes the answer lies beneath the sands of Iraq.
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- "Oil is a factor. How much [of a factor] is anybody's
guess, but to discount it as a factor is, I think, to be misleading,"
he continued. "It's not a conspiracy theory to bring it in because,
after all, it is the second largest oil supply in the world."
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- The congressman said the White House should be focusing
on healthcare, the cost of prescription drugs, unemployment, the economy,
corporate fraud, and retirement security.
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- "Therein is the immediate threat to America's security,"
Kucinich added. "Iraq is a handy diversion."
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- McDermott said the lack of focus on those issues points
to another motivation for the administration's push for Hussein's removal.
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- "This war business has obfuscated, hidden, beaten
down any discussion of domestic issues," he charged. "I think
that the president may have a two-pronged plan here, one over oil and the
other is to win the fall election."
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- McDermott originally came to the briefing only to listen,
but spoke when Kucinich invited him to the table. McDermott charged that
the original military action against Iraq - launched with United Nation's
approval after Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990 - was also primarily undertaken
because of fear that the U.S. would lose access to foreign oil.
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- "That was really about the Kuwaiti oil fields and
now we're back into this again," he claimed. "I, personally,
am one of those who thinks [oil] is a much larger issue than people wish
to talk about."
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- The allegation of access to oil as a motive for removing
Hussein is not frequently heard publicly, McDermott said, because of an
organized effort by the Bush administration to squelch such discussions.
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- "The political operatives in the White House have
been very careful to spin it away from oil," he said. "Anytime
anybody tries to see a connection, they spin it the other way."
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- Kucinich suggested sarcastically that, if and when they
do vote on any administration proposal to engage Iraq, members of Congress
should perhaps have a new choice for voting.
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- "Maybe we should have four buttons on our voting
machine," he said with a laugh, "one that says, 'yes;' one that
says, 'no;' another one that says, 'present;' and a fourth one that says,
'fill 'er up.'"
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- Kucinich insisted that any action the U.S. takes against
Iraq, without permission from the United Nations, "would clearly be
a violation of international law."
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- "This is a question of whether we become an aggressor
nation," he claimed. "This would change what America is all about."
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- Kucinich is urging his colleagues to wait to see what
action, if any, the United Nations might take. President Bush, however,
wants Congress to deliberate the issue and vote on a resolution concerning
Iraq before it adjourns to campaign for the November elections.
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- "I can't imagine an elected member of the United
States Senate or House of Representatives saying, 'I think I'm going to
wait for the United Nations to make a decision,'" Bush said Friday
morning prior to the accusations by Kucinich and McDermott.
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- "It seems like to me that if you're representing
the United States, you ought to be making a decision on what's best for
the United States," he continued. "If I were running for office,
I'm not sure how I'd explain to the American people saying, 'Vote for me,
and, oh, by the way, on a matter of national security, I think I'm going
to wait for somebody else to act."
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