Kucinich...This war is illegal. Oct. 30 Democratic debate transcript

[slipslidingaway]

repost from GD

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=2175431&mesg_id=2175431

Kucinich used his time last night on a few occasions to bring this issue to the American people, one of the reasons Kucinich originally mentioned when introducing HR 333 was to stop the next war in the ME. If you agree and feel people need to be held accountable please contact your representatives, they need to hear from us before Kucinich tries to move his bill to the floor. We know the media will not cover this portion of the debate...they have more serious matters to discuss.

:eyes:


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21528787/page/5

"Dennis Kucinich: Well, first of all, we need to adamantly reject any kind of a move toward war with Iran...

The problem is: These policies of preemption license a war. Preemption, by virtue of international law, is illegal. Our president has already violated international law.

The war in Iraq is illegal. Even planning for the war against Iran is illegal...

I think that our democracy is in peril, and unless the Democrats and the Congress stand up for the Constitution, we are going to lose our country. We need to challenge him on this war, but we need to challenge him at his core, and the core is, there needs to be a separation of powers, a balance of powers.

Things are out of balance. It is time for us to stand up for the Constitution of the United States."


Here are a few articles pulled quickly from the internet.


http://zmagsite.zmag.org/Images/davies0205.html

"In September, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan told the BBC that the U.S./British invasion of Iraq was illegal under international law. The following week, he dedicated his entire annual address to the UN General Assembly to the subject of international law, saying, “We must start from the principle that no one is above the law and no one should be denied its protection.” So how was the invasion of Iraq illegal? How does that affect the situation there today? And what are the practical implications of this for U.S. policy going forward, in Iraq and elsewhere?"


http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/UNASD_Declaration/backgrounder.html

"Many American and other citizens do not realize that when our Congress ratifies a treaty - as with the United Nations Charter, which was ratified in October of 1945 - that its statutes then become, according to Article VI of the U.S. Constitution, "the Supreme Law of the Land" and U.S. federal law.

This means that the current "pre-emptive war" in Iraq - which bypassed the UN Security Council and violated core tenets of the UN Charter - was both a violation of U.S. federal law, and a violation of the UN Charter..."


THE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT: THE GENEVA CONVENTION
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/teachers/lessonplans/iraq/prisoners_3-23.html

[Spoonerian]

1. Dennis Kucinich

is the ONLY candidate that I've heard point out that:

1. The Constitution allocates the power to spend money to the House of Representatives.
2. When the President asks for money for illegal wars, all Congressman have a sworn duty to not give him one cent.

Now I will make a deduction from these 2 premises:

Any Congressman who voted to give money to the President to wage an illegal war is just as guilty of a war crime as the President himself.

I'd love to hear Kucinich tell Clinton that she might be able to mitigate some of her sentence at the Hague by standing up for the Constitution and not giving the Chimporer any more money to commit mass murder for his own amusement. Edwards has already sort of confessed for his part in un-constitutionally funding war crimes. Maybe if he turns himself in, they'll spare him the death penalty and let him do some kind of work to pay restitution to the families of the million or so that he helped murder.

[slipslidingaway]

2. He is the only candidate willing to point out a few issues the

others will not touch. One reason I believe Congress wants to bury this issue is because there are too many members on both sides who will look bad :(