Rep. Dennis Kucinich

In the audio recording below (dtd 2006) Congressman Dennis Kucinich refers to George Bush’s plan to permanently base U.S. Troops in Iraq. Last week the so-called leaders of the U.S. and Iraq agreed (in principle) to just such an action.

It is now more than obvious that Mr. Bush’s war was not to liberate the Iraqi people from a brutal dictatorship, but to invade and occupy a nation for control of their natural resources. In the agreement signed last Monday, 50,000 U.S. Troops will be based in Iraq for the long term, and the United States will retain a large degree of control over the ‘democratically elected’ Iraqi government.

Is there any other conclusion to be drawn but that this action is no more than colonial-style control of one nation over another for the purpose of exploitation? In less ambiguous words: It's all about the oil.

Liberation, or the war on terror, can no longer be used as the reason for our invasion.

In 1961 then President John Kennedy challenged the American people to land a man on the moon before the end of the decade. In February of 1962 John Glenn orbited the earth three times and just seven years later Neil Armstrong stepped down onto the surface of the moon. The challenge was met. It was a testament to what American determination can accomplish. So why is it that now, in our fifth year of the occupation of Iraq, the Iraqi people are still without running water, reliable electrical power, or adequate medical aid and supplies? Because, sadly, that is not where George Bush’s interests lie. Let’s not deceive ourselves any longer. Freedom for the people of Iraq was never Mr. Bush’s goal. Granted, it was what we were told, but it just doesn’t hold true.

I cannot remember a time in the history of America when the government so blatantly defied the will of the people, and with such arrogance. Make no mistake, these are sad days for America and every American. Our core values and beliefs, our Constitution and civil liberties, our principles and ideals, are being trampled right before our eyes. And all the while, the citizens of Iraq suffer. And they suffer in ways we cannot begin to fathom. These are the people we supposedly went to liberate. These are the people whose freedom, we were told, we went to secure. Yet in real, tangible, practical terms, they are, seemingly, the last concern of those controlling their land.

Before the money brokers, investors, oil sellers and resellers, commodity brokers, policy makers, and governments consider the disposition and control of Iraqi oil, they should look long and hard at the suffering Iraqi people. That is where they will see the real cost of each barrel of the oil they value so much.