Inhumane War in the Name of Humanity

Truthdig.com ^ | 8/30/13 | Dennis Kucinich

[Freedom of Speech Wins]

Inhumane War in the Name of Humanity

Posted on Aug 30, 2013

Gage Skidmore (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Former Rep. Dennis Kucinich.

By Dennis Kucinich

The following letter was sent by former Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich on the day of publication to about 200,000 recipients.

Dear Friend,

Eleven years ago I warned America we were about to get into a war based on lies. I led 125 members of Congress to oppose the Iraq War resolution. When I raised questions then, some of our leading Senators, such as John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, and John Edwards voted yes. The media was squarely behind the war. I was attacked for questioning the cause of war. Everything I said in October of 2002 as to why we should not go to war turned out to be 100 percent true. Many of those who were 100 percent wrong have continued in Congress or gone on to greater influence in government. And America? America lost 4,488 sons and daughters, with 32,021 wounded, at a cost which is approaching $6 trillion.

Today we are poised to engage in war against Syria with such a flimsy case being made to attempt to justify an attack, it could only be the product of cynicism and willful misrepresentation in the cause of war and a callous disregard for our true national interest.

FACT: There is no definitive proof that Syria’s Assad knew of and directed the chemical weapons attack on August 21st.

FACT: Intelligence which overheard Syrian military officials discussing the attack—far from implicating them—finds them denying they initiated an attack.

FACT: There are at least two instances where the opposition is said to have used chemical weapons. One incident, which occurred in March, was referred to the Security Council by Russia. Another, which occurred in April, was cited by special U.N. investigator Carla Del Ponte.

FACT: Some rockets identified near attack sites were described as “homemade.”

FACT: A coordinated effort was made by U.S. officials to discourage a full U.N. investigation.

FACT: The biggest beneficiary of the attack on the Syrian government is al-Qaida, which leads the opposition.

FACT: Syria is not an imminent threat to the United States.

FACT: Absent an imminent or actual threat to the United States, only Congress has the authority, under the Constitution, Article I, Section 8, to declare war.

Whatever we believe about Syria, as Americans, let us all believe in our Constitution, in the rule of law, and in the bedrock of principles which inform our rights and responsibilities as a nation. We have a right to defend ourselves, but no right to wage aggressive war. Our obligation as citizens is not to be a member of the Democratic, Republican or an independent party, but to be a party to the truth.

I am concerned that once again, in the name of humanity, an inhumane act of war is about to be committed against the people of a distant land, compounding their tragedy; in the name of security, an attack will be launched which will make us all less secure; and in the name of the United States, in our name, the destructive power of war will be unleashed based on the hubris of exceptionalism which, left untamed, will destroy our own nation.

I will discuss what must be done in our next communication.

Thank you,

Dennis

[2ndDivisionVet]

Dennis is usually wrong, except in his taste for women.

[A Navy Vet]

Please tell me you really don't want to get involved in a civil war, and put more of our military in harms way because of disputed reports about chemical attacks in country.

Even if the reports are true that the chemical attacks came from Assad, I'm at the point I just don't care. I don't want to see a possible regional war because of it. I'm tired of watching our best come home broken. Let the Muslims kill each other...my compassion for others is now running shallow.

[Smokin' Joe]

Unreal. I never thought I’d agree with that one...but in this case, I do. We have no business intervening in that conflict, especially on the behalf of the organization we are fighting elsewhere. How crazy would that be?

[BTCM]

Why must we prop up Obama’s narcissist ego about his community organizer line in the sand with our blood and treasure? His teleprompter reading skills that inform the world how every nation in the region is backing him 100% seems to have no answer as to why the Turks whom he preaches are insisting we attack don’t do it themselves as my limited experience with them indicates it would take them less than 24 hours to destroy Assad. Wait, wait, maybe the Turks would not install a Muslim Brotherhood government as Egypt did and he liked so damn much!

[Gaffer]

I have absolutely no interest in what one Muslim does to another Muslim. Nor do I care when it involves a group of Muslims against another group of Muslims.

None of these are worth the life of a single American pilot, soldier, etc. In fact, none of these are worth the price of a single bullet, IMO.

[grania]

Maybe the woman who chose to marry Kucinich tells us something about the kind of man he is.

Real men know what's right and what's wrong, and aren't afraid to act accoringly. JMHO