According to a press release today, an October 2002 pre Iraq war analysis of intelligence and information by Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich accurately predicted subsequent events, discoveries, and consequences, according to documents released today by the Kucinich for President Campaign.
The information was widely circulated to members of Congress accurately predicted subsequent events, discoveries, and consequences, according to documents released today by the Kucinich for President Campaign.
Among the points raised by Kucinich in his Oct. 2, 2002 analysis of the war-authorization resolution (http://kucinich.us/files/pdfs/Oct2002Analysis.pdf), which he presented to members of the House and the Senate eight days before they voted to give President Bush the war-authorization he sought, Kucinich advised his colleagues:
“This language is so broad that it would allow the President to order an attack against Iraq even when there is no material threat to the United States.”
“A unilateral attack on Iraq by the United States will cause instability and chaos in the region and sow the seeds of future conflicts all over the world.”
“Unilateral action against Iraq will cost the United States the support of the world community, adversely affecting the war on terrorism.”
“There is no credible evidence that Iraq possesses weapons of mass destruction.”
“There is no connection between Iraq and the events of 9/11.”
Kucinich, who led the effort to mobilize more than 120 members of the U.S. House of Representatives to oppose the 2002 resolution, has pointed out recently that other members of the House and the Senate, some of whom are running for President, were privy to the same intelligence and information that he was. They, however, voted to approve the authorization. Subsequently, some have apologized, saying they made a mistake. Others have said they were “deceived” or “misled” by President Bush.
Kucinich, a Democratic Presidential candidate, is the only candidate who voted against the original war authorization and against every war-funding appropriation since then.
“I saw the same information that my colleagues did,” Kucinich said today. “I consulted experts in the military, at the United Nations, and elsewhere in the world community, and concluded we were about to embark on a tragic course that would cost us dearly in lives, in the loss of global moral credibility, and our nation would suffer profoundly and painfully deep scars that might never be healed.”
He added, “Some of those who claim they were deceived by George Bush and were ‘tricked’ into voting for this unconscionable war are now offering those ‘credentials’ as qualifications to become the next President of the United States.”
Kucinich concluded, “Sound judgment is more valid than political posturing. Principled consistency is a more valid measure of qualifications than hyped-popularity. And rational clarity in confronting life-and-death issues is a better measure of leadership than after-the-fact excuses, apologies, or carefully scripted non-apologies.”
Kucinich will be in Texas and Minnesota this weekend to elaborate on the documents that his campaign released today.