Here is where the second half of the transcript begins
Dennis Kucinich: They don't carry out their own program. When President Obama congratulates Secretary
Clinton, he's congratulating himself.
Rob Kall: Yes.
So let's talk then about the policy that she implemented. It sounds like you weren't that happy with
them.
Dennis Kucinich: Well, look. As a member of Congress, I was
the foremost spokesperson in challenging U.S. Aggression abroad. I believe that it unfortunately helped to
facilitate strengthening al Qaeda in some places instead of weakening it. Do you know, that when we knocked off the
government of Libya, arms poured into areas south of Libya? And actually, it's
well known that some of those arms helped al Qaeda in the Maghreb attempt to
overthrow the Malian government.
And
so, we have to look at where the policies took us. They expanded the United
States' footprint internationally, with arms, with drones; and have continued
to, unfortunately, strengthen the position of radical elements, wittingly or
unwittingly. And I have a problem with
that. And I said so in the Congress of
the United States, over, and over, and over.
And I was able to get votes called so that Congress had at least an
opportunity to weigh in, whether they had a desire or not to change the policies of the
administration. This is nothing new when
I say that I broadly opposed the policies of the Obama administration when it
came to international matters.
Rob Kall: OK. So
let's talk about peace, because this is something that you've put so much of
your life and heart into. My impression
is that, under an Obama administration, the Peace Movement has been, in many
ways, gutted and eviscerated, and made impotent.
Dennis Kucinich: Well, it needed to be visible, and it hasn't
been. In March of 2003, before the
invasion of Iraq, I joined over a million people in New York City winding down
1st and 2nd avenue, and, I suppose, beyond. Tremendous
crowds opposing the United States' entry into the war. I participated in one peace march after
another; this was almost ten years ago now.
But once the war started, the public opinion and momentum swung in favor
of the war, really as a function of the fact that people had sons and daughters
in the military. People would say "Well,
we support our troops." But the American
people were dragged into the war based on lies!
Which is what I [signal lapse - "said?"] back in October 2002. I cited chapter and verse the reasons why we
shouldn't go to war. Anybody goes to the
internet today, Google "Kucinich Iraq Report October 2002" and you'll see I
that I had it cold. I knew exactly what
was happening.
But
you know what? We got pulled into a
war. And the Peace Movement, to the
extent that there was one, which was maybe not organized in terms of
membership, but I will tell you this: the American people do not want to go to
war. But we got dragged into it. So, Iraq begat Afghanistan, begat a whole series
of incursions into Pakistan and expanded our regional involvement. The Peace Movement was eclipsed; and it needs
to be reawakened, and it needs to be visible, and it needs to be called forward
with a new mission: t ruth and reconciliation. The American people deserve to know the truth
about what took us into Iraq. They deserve to know the truth about Hamid
Karzai, and the kind of theft that occurred of US tax dollars in connection
with the enterprise in Afghanistan. They
deserve to know how US tax dollars ended up helping those who we claim we
oppose.
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