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Kucinich says he'd pull out of Iraq in 3 months


By Sandra Armbruster

COMMUNITY EDITOR



A wildly cheering crowd of several hundred Thursday night heard Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich promise that if he is elected president, .

"I'm the only one in Congress who voted against it," he said, pausing, "because I read it."

Kucinich, who was introduced by Mike Whitty of Birmingham as "a Democrat's Democrat," spoke at the Troy Community Center. While the Ohio congressman was there to address members of the Troy Democratic Club on the first stop of his five-day stay in Michigan, the largely middle-aged audience came from throughout southeastern Michigan and drew national media attention.

His anti-war stance that took up the bulk of his speech, and his call for a federal department of peace, resonated with Shelly Browning who said she had "come back to the community to read up on the different candidates."

"When I was at Yale, I heard the idea for a department of peace," she said. "That was a paradigm shift for me. It was innovative. If you don't want war, why would you have a department of defense?"

Browning and others who came "to see him in the flesh" applauded so loudly they sometimes drowned out the words of Kucinich, who is one of the few candidates on the Democratic ballot in Tuesday's primary election.

Kucinich, who didn't participate in the Iowa caucus and who placed fifth in the New Hampshire primary, attacked those who urged Michigan voters to cast their ballots as "uncommitted," saying that "I'm one person in the race to challenge my party."

Michigan was "punished," he said, for holding an early primary. The congressman is the only Democratic candidate expected to campaign in Michigan.

He added that he is asking for a vote recount in New Hampshire, though he concedes it "won't change my numbers."

The candidate said that his proposals for economic reform would return the country as "a manufacturing power," something that he said would help Michigan's economy. "I want to put America back to work."

He added that if elected, he would establish a WGA - a Works Green Administration, saying that "peace and sustainability ... can go together."

Calling for fuel efficient cars, Kucinich said he wanted automakers to build cars that "people will buy and buy."

One of the students from Cranbrook Kingswood asked the congressman in a meeting with the press how he would attract young people to his campaign.

"By telling the truth," murmured his wife, Elizabeth, who sat near him on an adjacent couch.

"By telling the truth," repeated Kucinich. "That's a novel idea."

During his speech, Kucinich claimed that the U.S. was sent into war on the basis of lies.

"It's time for a new direction in America, a new approach to deal with the challenges ... I call it peace," Kucinich said.

He added that, within three months of taking office, he would have all troops out of Iraq and an international security force in place.

Later asked where his anti-war leanings originated, Kucinich said it was from his religious upbringing, including reading the epistles of Paul who, he said, spoke of love.

Referring to his effort to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney, Kucinich said that he plans to introduce a 50-count article of impeachment against President George Bush.

Kucinich, taking a question from two sixth-grade girls, said he would abolish the federal No Child Left Behind.

As part of his education program, he said he would set up a pre-kindergarten program for ages 3-5. To pay for it, he said he would cut the Pentagon budget by 15 percent.

The congressman also would provide for a free public school college education for everyone, in return for two years of community work. The candidate's call for a single party health care system that he said would take the overhead "skimmed off" by private insurers and provide everything from medical to dental care received a standing ovation.

"I can't be bought and I can't be bossed," he told the cheering crowd. "This is a new day and it starts here in Michigan."

This man, from everything I've seen and read about all of the presidential candidates, is the only one worthy of the office of President; the only one deserving of the position Commander in Chief!
I wish I could do more to promote hi candidacy than share links and articles on various forums, but if that is all I can do,that is what I will do. The White House NEEDS a Department of Peace; the US needs the PATRIOT act to be repealed; and IRAQ(and the rest of the Middle East) need an end to the bloodshed!

Kucinich for President!

Dennis Kucinich had my vote long ago.

Not that it matters much.