WASHINGTON - Rep. Dennis Kucinich, the former
presidential peace candidate whose opposition to the Iraq
war is now practically mainstream, wants to cut off future
funding for the war.
It's the only way to assure a pullout soon, he says.
The Cleveland Democrat, appearing Wednesday on the
Democracy Now independent broadcast network and Thursday on
Fox News, says he will push that message in Congress and try
to get a majority of his colleagues to agree. He would leave
current funding in place but refuse the next Bush
administration request for more money for the war, which
could come by spring.
Money already in the pipeline would cover the pullout, he
told The Plain Dealer.
Meantime, the United States could begin discussions with
the United Nations and Arab nations including Syria and Iran
about an international "peace force" to take over.
American dissatisfaction with the war is widespread.
Kucinich's calls for a pullout this rapidly, however,
may be in the minority of even his own party.
Harry Reid, the Senate Democratic leader, said Wednesday
in a press breakfast, "Democrats are united in our
feeling that we must redeploy. Does that mean pull out
immediately? Of course it doesn't."
Rather, Reid said, "we have to have more
counterinsurgency, we must do better force protection, and
of course we've got to have better trainers. . . . We
also have to do something to revitalize
reconstruction."
To Kucinich, that would only mean more lost American and
Iraqi lives.
"It's inevitable that we're going to get
out of Iraq," he said. "This isn't a question
of if, but of when."
Copyright © 2006 Cleveland Plain Dealer
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