Tag Archives: Strength Through Peace

Looking At Iraq Through Kucinich

In light of recent revelations about our role in Iraq, it’s time to consider the situation from the only candidate who has been right from the beginning.

Iraq is a disaster. We are now approaching 4,000 U.S. soldiers dead and updates of the Lancet study estimate that over a million Iraqis have died! This astounding figure was recently corrorborated in a British study this month. Security only declines day by day and dependable power, clean water and employment is unavailable. The U.S. spends about $200 million each day 70% of Americans want it to end.

Whether it’s the Baker-Hamilton report, or the GAO, it seems like everyone except the White House considers it a disaster. The consensus seems to be calling for a new approach, that will emphasize a political solution rather than a military one. However, the consensus is less clear as to what that solution may be. What is clear is that it is a colossal error, plagued by instability and massive violence, sending more and more human beings to their deaths every day. But, again, the nature of the violence and instability in Iraq is seen in different ways.

  The White House, as well as most of the Republican candidates, see it largely as the work of global terrorists and Iraqi extremists attempting to drive out U.S. forces and the establish a National State of terror from which they can launch their aggresive war against the United States. “Al Qaeda” is thrown out a lot, even though the organization has a very small presence in the country, estimated at around 1,500 people total. They therefore, justify our continued presence there as crucial to national defense and winning the War on Terror.

  Others, including many Democrats, consider the violence to be  essentially a sectarian conflict or full blown civil war. Their soulution is drawing down combat forces, while continuing to leave somewhere between 60,000-90,000 troops in the region, apparently, to “fight terrorism”, prevent the possibility of the conflict escalating and spilling over into other countries, mass genocide, to train Iraqi forces, etc. 

  So, even though there’s a lot of arguing between the two groups both sides are committed to leaving a substantial U.S. troop presence in the country. That is, though they disagree on the amount of troops to keep there, they both agree that a military presence is key to securing the country. The people that favor the second view, including Clinton, Obama and Edwards, and talk so much about “ending the war”, are planning to leave a big military presence there. That’s what they call ending the war. But, what has to be realized is that this no longer a war. Outrageous amounts of men, women and children are dying every day, but this is not a war. This is an occupation.

  That’s the word that neither side likes to use, but it’s the only word to describe it. The Republicans want to play offense in the occupation and the Democrats want to play defense in the occupation, but at the end of the day it’s still an occupation. It is an occupation based upon oil and privatization, an occupation based upon big business and reconstruction contracts. It is an occupation that is the cause of the violence and instability in Iraq and it is an occupation that we have to start looking at if we are going to stabalize Iraq and bring peace and security there, as well as in America. 

  In April, an ABC poll found that 97% of Sunnis and 83% of Shia opposed the presence of U.S. military. The same poll indicated that the entire infrastructure is growing steadily worse, as the availability of power, clean water and jobs are declining. Earlier this month a BBC poll  found that 60% of Iraqis approved of attacks on U.S. forces. The same poll found 70% of Iraqis saying that security has been steadily deteriorating, even with the surge in troops. As poll after poll shows these trends to be accurate, it starts to become obvious that keeping a U.S. military presence is entirely the wrong answer. Yet, these other candidates are all talking about continuing the occupation?

  If we look at what’s going on in Iraq, we see massive corruption. We have these private companies, like Blackwater, carrying out security operations, huge corporations such as Halliburton, landing no bid and cost-plus contracts for reconstruction, all of these companies making Billions rebuilding Iraq as the Iraqis get little to nothing in money and only a declining standard of living from the “reconstruction”. And then there’s the Oil.

  Iraq, having the third largest oil reserves in the world, is being pressured into passing a law that would in effect privatize over 80% of their Oil reserves to multinational companies, particularly U.S. oil companies. This “hydrocarbon law” not only gives the rights to U.S. and other foreign oil companies to do business in Iraq it enables them to have power in making the decisions over the contracts themselves. That is, a Federal Council is established to make decisions upon oil contract negotiations. However, representatives of these private oil companies will be on the board and thus approving their own contracts and terms. These are conditions of our occupation. These are the conditions of injustice, corruption and theft. These are the conditions that are enraging Iraqis and fueling the insurgency. These are the conditions of instability and violence that have, predictably enough, have lead to increased instability and violence.

  What we need to do is create conditions to allow for security or security will never arise. We need to create the conditions of fairness, stability and reparations. We need to allow the Iraqi people to possess their own wealth in Oil, to create jobs and a more stable economy through national reconstruction efforts. We need to end this occupation and start thinking more practically by realizing that it is the occupation that is creating the violence and convene an international peace keeping force to help the country remian stable as it rebuilds. We need to create the conditions of peace in order to strengthen Iraq as well as our own security and standing in the world. We need to start working with others and take a more even handed approach, building relationships instead of enemies.

  We need to elect the only candidate who understands these things and is willing to take action; the only candidate who has consistently spoken out against the war; the only candidate who has spoken out against the mass corruption and this most unjust oil law; the only candidate to tell the people the truth that we can end this war anytime we want end this war anytime we want; and the only candidate pursuing peace, peace that is practical and makes America stronger.

  Dennis Kucinich plan to end the occupation-H.R. 1234:

 

(1) the United States should end the occupation of Iraq immediately, simultaneously with the introduction of a United Nations-led international peacekeeping force pursuant to an agreement with nations within the region and which incorporates the terms and conditions specified in section 1;

(2) the Department of Defense should use readily available existing funds to bring all United States troops and necessary equipment home while a political settlement is being negotiated and preparations are made for a transition to an international security and peacekeeping force;

(3) the Department of Defense should order a simultaneous return of all United States contractors and subcontractors and turn over all contracting work to the Iraqi Government;

(4) the United Nations should be encouraged to prepare an international security and peacekeeping force to be deployed to Iraq, replacing United States troops who then return home;

(5) the United States should provide funding for a United Nations peacekeeping mission, in which 50 percent of the peacekeeping troops should come from nations with large Muslim populations;

(6) the international security force, under United Nations direction, should remain in place until the Iraqi Government is capable of handling its own security;

(7) the Iraqi Government, with assistance from the United Nations, should immediately restart the failed reconstruction program in Iraq and rebuild roads, bridges, schools, hospitals, and other public facilities, houses, and factories with jobs and job training going to local Iraqis;

(8) the Iraqi Government, in an act of political sovereignty, should set aside initiatives to privatize Iraqi oil interests or other national assets and abandon all efforts, whether at the behest of the United States or otherwise, to change Iraqi national law to facilitate privatization;

(9) the Iraq Government, in an act of political sovereignty, should set forth a plan to stabilize Iraq’s cost for food and energy, on par to what the prices were before the United States invasion and occupation;

(10) the Iraqi Government, in an act of political sovereignty, should strive for economic sovereignty for Iraq by working with the world community to restore Iraq’s fiscal integrity without structural readjustment measures of the International Monetary Funds or the World Bank;

(11) the United States should initiate a reparations program for the loss of Iraqi lives, physical and emotional injuries, and damage to property, which should include an effort to rescue the tens of thousands of Iraqi orphans from lives of destitution; and

(12) the United States should refrain from any covert operations in Iraq and any attempts to destabilize the Iraqi Government.

The Most Practical Plan For the Economy

Dennis Kucinich’s approach to the economy is so practical and farsighted, I sometimes wonder why it isn’t discussed more; even by Kucinich! But, I guess Iraq is always the dominating issue.

However, amazingly, this plan addresses: balancing the budget, tempering the Pentagon war machine, fair taxation reform, leveling the business sector to enable small businesses to compete, our $800 Billion trade deficit, worker’s rights human rights and environmental concerns, the millions of outsourced jobs, and  rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure-while at the same time creating more national wealth with millions of jobs, promoting renewable energies and saving families money on bills! It is insanely practical and wholly part of his message of “Strength Through Peace” for America.

In the same way that Dennis Kucinich will strengthen our security internationally by creating pragmatic relationships of peace, based upon equality and fairness, so he will at home by creating a more balanced economy and more equal society. To start with, Kucinich will repeal the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy and then double the tax refunds and credits for Americans earning $80,000 and less. He will create a more level playing field for small businesses by reconstituting the trust-busting powers of the Justice Department and breaking up the monopolies that make competition next to impossible in many industries. Further, he will slash the bloated Pentagon budget that we spoke about earlier by 15% to provide for universal education, pre-kindergarten/daycare through college, as well as a new public works program, called the WGA, which in turn will create millions of new jobs.

Regarding our massive trade deficit, mounting over $700 Billion/yr, and the millions of jobs our country has lost through trade agreements (3 million manufacturing jobs lost since 2000 alone) Kucinich is the only candidate willing to address the problem head on. As one of his first acts in office, he will notify NAFTA and the WTO that America is withdrawing from the agreements, thus protecting massive outsourced job loss, stimulating the economy and getting us on the road to recovery nationally; as America starts to produce goods that Americans purchase. No longer will it only be about corporate wealth, but national wealth as well, and Dennis will agressively pursue that these corporations pay their fare share in taxes too.

We will return to bilateral trade, based upon workers rights, human rights and environmental principles. No more exploiting workers for slave wages. No more ruining the environment for profit. Workers will be empowered and the rights of American workers to unionize and enact effective collective bargaining will gain more strength by Kucinich’s promise to repeal the Taft-Hartely Act.

And finally, Dennis will create millions of new jobs and more wealth among the middle and working class and small businesses, while simultaneously addressing our crumbling infrastructural problems and energy needs. Through his Works Green Administration, or WGA, Dennis is investing in the environment, as well as our future, while stimulating the national economy. Inspired by FDR’s Works Progress Administration, the WGA utilizes the Environmental Protection Agency to put millions of Americans back to work rebuilding our schools, bridges, roads, ports, water systems, and environmental systems. Not only does the bold practicality of the plan lie in putting Americans back to work by investing in the national wealth of our own infrastructure, but the plan also incorporates environmental and energy concerns to further create wealth for the country and save individual families more money. For example, not only will the public works projects stress green building and renewable energy technology, but the plan will enable homes to be retrofit with green building, solar and wind microtechnology which will save families money on their energy bills.

A Green America: Kucinich’s Bold Energy Plan

We have to recognize the relationship between global warming and “global warring”. Just as dependence on foreign oil has led to wars in the Middle East, allocating an outrageous amount of our budget to the Pentagon facilitates and preserves this dependence on foreign oil. Dennis Kucinich understands this connection and so, as stated above, will slash the Pentagon budget by 15% as his first step to move away from fossil fuels and towards sustainable and renewable fuels and energy sources. As stated above, this money will go to education, as well as creating his Works Green Administration (WGA). The WGA will couple the EPA with NASA to develop new technologies to utilize alternative fuels and energies.

Inspired by FDR’s Works Progress Administration, the WGA utilizes the Environmental Protection Agency to put millions of Americans back to work rebuilding our schools, bridges, roads, ports, water systems, and environmental systems. Not only does the bold practicality of the plan lie in putting Americans back to work by investing in the national wealth of our own infrastructure, but the plan also incorporates environmental and energy concerns to further create wealth for the country and save individual families more money. For example, not only will the public works projects stress green building and renewable energy technology, but the plan will enable homes to be retrofit with green building, solar and wind microtechnology which will save families money on their energy bills. The WGA rebuilding effort will incorporate sustainable development and renewable energy from our public infrastructure to the millions of private homes that choose to retrofit with wind and solar technologies to save on family energy costs. In fact, they will be able to sell energy back to the grid.

The role of utilities will change dramatically because it will no longer be a centralized approach toward energy production. Utility companies will have to provide support for green alternatives. They will no longer be dictating energy costs, as Kucinich will work to break up the monopolies and ensure close regulation of their activities. They will be required to go green as license conditions and shut down if they violate the Clean Air Act. We will finally have a strict and EPA.

Further, Kucinich will finally committ the U.S. to the provisions of the Kyoto Protocol, as well as incorporating a carbon tax to create disincentives for using carbon-based energies. However, he believes this isn’t enough; simply punishing those people who are using carbons is not the answer. Rather, Kucinich wants to put the emphasis first on the government supporting renewable technologies, to move the country toward a renewable portfolio standard of at least 30% by 2020.

Kucinich will create a cooperative and synergistic relationship between all departments and administrations within the government for the purpose of greening America. Whether it’s the Small Business Administration, or the Housing and Urban Development Department, or the Department of Agriculture, or the Department of Labor, each would incorporate green goals into its policies.

Internationally, as President, Kucinich will work with the leaders of China and India and other nations to promote an environmental consciousness and sustainable economies. After withdrawing from NAFTA, the new trade agreements will include requirements for protecting the air and the water and the land of all the countries we do business with.

Dennis Kucinich has a long history and strong committment of fighting for the environment. He was active in helping draft the first environmental law protecting the air, as a member of the Cleveland City Council 30 years ago and led the effort in Ohio challenging nuclear power as being unsafe, unreliable, and unsustainable. Internationally he attended the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, advocating a plan with Mikhail Gorbachev for a Global Green Deal that would enable the introduction of $50 billion of new solar projects around the world.

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What Does Dennis Kucinich Mean By “Strength Through Peace”?

What I want to do is explain what Dennis Kucinich is offering our country right now when he talks about “Strength through Peace”; to get a better understanding of what he means by peace and how it will make our country stronger as a whole. We need to understand that creating peace is not simply some idealistic hope for ending wars, but rather a very pragmatic plan that builds relationships based upon fairness and justice and which, predictably, reduces the likelihood of hostilities that lead to crimes, violence and wars. I want people to start seeing peace as a balance, not only in our foreign relationships, but here at home as well; a balance in the economy, a balance in healthcare, in education and government. And I want others to understand peace as paying us a dividend, that peace is a practical investment in our future. But, I want to begin by looking at where we are. Where is America right now?

Well, obviously we’re in Iraq, involved in a hugely unpopular and expensive occupation of that country. We are in Afghansitan and flirting with Iran and in debt to China among others to fund these campaigns.  Economically we’re in trouble with a weakening dollar, importing much more than we export, leading to a massive trade deficit. At home we are in a healthcare crisis, with a crumbling infrastructure, growing poverty rate, a shrinking middle class and some gaping holes in our constitution. The housing bubble is bursting, jobs are declining and outsourced, and inflation is eating away at the whole thing. On top of it all we are growing more and more isolated from our government, as a 70% call for an end to Iraq and overturning both Senate and House majorities isn’t enough to leave. Where’s America? It’s at the bottom of record low approval ratings for our president and our congress.

  Now, to really trace all of the reasons that we got here would take us outside the scope of this presentation. However, I want to focus on a principle that has served as a kind of underlying philosophy for a lot of the decisions that has lead us here: “peace through strength” (the direct opposite of Kucinich’s “strength through peace”). This doctrine of “peace through strength” has been floating through American policy for the last 30 years or so and has been aggressively pursued by our current President. And I think if we examine this for a moment we can gain some insight into our current situation, as well as how an America under Dennis Kucinich would differ.

  The first thing to notice about “peace through strength” is that peace is posited as a goal, or an end in itself, which will be achieved through strength. So the first thing we would want to know is what is strength? Or, how is it exactly, that we will achieve peace? 

  So, when we look at America under George W. Bush, do we see strength or do we see weakness?  I don’t know if there’s really an answer to this question because America is strong in certain areas, but very weak in others. However, if we examine the current policies, a very definite pattern starts to become clear. Power is redistributed to specific areas and further consolidated at the top, greatly strengthening the relative few, while severely weakening the majority of others. This is true both in our foreign policy and our domestic policy.

  If we start with the federal budget, we see this bloated Pentagon budget has come close to $500 Billion, a 62% increase since 2001 and this doesn’t even include the $142 Billion appropriated for Iraq. Consequently we do have a hugely powerful military, but only while we under fund our schools, watch the bridges in our weakening infrastructure collapse and, possibly worst of all, live with the 47 million people who have no health insurance and more people fall into medically related bankruptcy. But, this budget isn’t just by chance. It is directly related to this doctrine of “peace through strength” and is really only one part of the picture.

  Now, if we are pumping outrageous amounts of money into this military, then it shouldn’t come to anyone’s surprise that we are utilizing this powerful military in aggressive wars. Because we have to understand that Iraq was an aggressive war based upon lies. In the beginning it was sold as a “defensive war” because, according to the intelligence, Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and could attack at any time. That was the story at least. But, we later learned that there were, in fact, no weapons at all and that the intelligence had been shaped and carefully selected by this administration. In fact, we have learned that the administration “didn’t accept intelligence to the contrary” and that there existed conflicting intelligence that was omitted from discourse, as Sen. Durbin later told us. The fact that the administration tailored the intelligence to lead us into war and didn’t allow time for the weapons inspectors to do their job shows us another way that power has been redistributed. Unilateral, Pre-emptive war and regime change has been strengthened in policy and multilateral, diplomatic efforts have been weakened. The fact that Mr. Bush only increased his hostile rhetoric towards Iran after the IAEA report indicated significant progress in compliance with inspections, shows how weak diplomatic policies have become, and is an ominous sign of things to come if we don’t challenge this type of thinking.

  Even when war can be avoided however, the solution is one of intimidation, rather than negotiation and the U.S. follows unjust policies, like the privatization of Iraqi oil reserves. In either case, war or intimidation, America’s standing in the world is undermined and hostility becomes great.

  All of this has been justified by the so-called “war on terror”. However, it’s important to keep “peace through strength” in mind, as this has definitely been the philosophy behind this war on terror and, according to the administration, protecting America. “Peace through strength” has been the doctrine for achieving national security and so this same transferal of power has occurred; a transferral of power that has included more and more corporate profits, rights and international leverage, as well as more and more power consolidated in the executive branch through unconstitutional legislation, signing statements and executive orders. Consequently, the weakening has come to the working and middle classes, Congress and Representative Government and individual civil liberites, such as habeas corpus.

  If we look at the economy we will see the same type of thing happening. Trade agreements like NAFTA and the WTO have strengthened large corporations, but weakened workers and the environment throughout the world. These corporations outsource their jobs to countries where they can pay for labor, pennies on the dollar, and avoid the costly environmental restrictions they would have to pay in the U.S., for instance. Further, the agreements have been written in such a way that prevents other costly provisions like worker’s rights. And so what is the effect of these agreements? We have huge profits for these corporations, but only at the cost of miserably exploited labor, who make near slave wages, have to work in unsafe and unsanitary conditions and who are not allowed to form unions or strike to negotiate more fair conditions. Also, we have violence done to the environment, which costs all of us in the long run. It’s important to think about our environment as a sense of wealth. Not only is protecting a clean environment necessary for human, as well as all, life, and therefore truly a form of wealth, but because of that fact, the day of reckoning will come. If clean up and repair is possible it will be much more costly then prevention and it will be the taxpayers who are given the bill. On top of all of this we import massively more than we export, facing a huge trade deficit. Even the workers in the industrialized countries lose too. They lose jobs. It has been estimated that over 3 million manufacturing jobs in the U.S. alone has been lost due to outsourcing through NAFTA.

  At home we see the same power grab for the few at the top and the consequent weakening of the majority that makes up the rest of us. The concentration of wealth at the top of the population has lead to a shrinking middle class and growing poverty rate. The average CEO in the U.S. earns $475 for every dollar the average worker does. And, with a cruel sense of logic, our tax rates then have those who struggle most pay a higher tax rate than the people at the top who can best afford it. Inflation has been steadily eating away at American’s purchasing power and unions have been weakened through acts like Taft-Hartely. It’s become necessary to work more just to live at the same standard as before. Adjusted for inflation, the minimum has dropped by 42% since its peak in 1968. In fact, if the minimum wage had risen at the same rate as CEO compensation, it would be $23/hr.! People are finding it more and more difficult to buy their own homes as property values are through the roof, leading to more debt. We now have 47 million Americans without any health insurance and 50 million who are underinsured. This underinsured group is largely responsible for half of the bankruptcies in the U.S. each year. In a study out of Harvard, a couple years ago, it was found that ¾ of all medically related bankruptcies are experienced by people who have insurance. Think about that. These people had insurance, but after you add the co-pays, deductibles and medication costs to the premiums, people who get seriously ill can’t cope with the payments and have to file for bankruptcy. In fact, the study found medically related bankruptcy to have risen by 2,200% since 1981! And yet, pharmaceutical and insurance companies are experiencing record profits at the same time. Then on top of all of this the most recent report from the U.S. Labor Department found the economy lost over 4,000 jobs.

  So to sum this up then, in “peace through strength” the strength is granted only to industrialized nations, multinational corporations, the Pentagon, the Executive branch, pre-emptive war, unilateral policy, large industries like weapons, securities, oil, pharmaceutical and insurance, and the top income earners in general. And all of this has come by weakening everything else, such as less developed nations, multilateral and diplomatic solutions, the environment, education, small businesses, Representative government, the middle class, the poor, our nation’s health and our national security. These are the relationships created under “peace through strength” and so one then has to ask: Is this what peace is?

  When you look at the consequences of this doctrine of “peace through strength” the nature of “peace” that develops is peculiar. If peace is simply the absence of war, we aren’t doing very well, since we’ve already waged two wars and are laying the ground work for a third against Iran. If peace is understood as a relationship of justice and harmony we fail here as well, since the effects seem to lead to intimidation and domination instead. And we start to see that if we continue on with these ideas we create more hostility, more enemies, more crime, more suffering and more likelihood of violence and war. We start to see that this conception of strength, that causes so much weakness and injustice causes the opposite of peace. So we are forced to conclude that  this whole doctrine of “peace through strength” is impractical and flawed. We find ourselves in need of a new doctrine and way of thinking for the country.

  And this is exactly what Dennis Kucinich is doing. He’s reversing this type of thinking for a new doctrine of “strength through peace”. That is, reversing these detrimental policies in order to create the conditions for peace. Dennis Kucinich is creating policies for relationships of peace, based upon justice and equality, from which we can build from, to strengthen our standing in the world. Peace is not the end, it is the means by which you empower individuals and countries. Peace is not simply the absence of war, but the presence of diplomacy and fair negotiations. Peace is not passive isolationism hoping things will turn out for the best, but actively participating in the world and pursuing relationships. It isn’t an empty ideal to look forward to through endless wars and suffering, but rather a pragmatic tool that is forward looking, creating friends instead of enemies, true universal healthcare, an more equitable economy and a sustainable future. Peace under Dennis Kucinich is balancing the budget and slashing the bloated Pentagon budget for money here at home, ending the war and engaging the world community, creating fair trade based upon human rights, workers rights and environmental principles, universal pre-kindergarten and college, alternative energy techologies, fair tax rates, and newfound constitutional responsibility. It’s creating a safer, more secure and stronger America. Peace under Dennis Kucinich is what’s necessary for this country.

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