[Peace-discuss] D. Kucinich: "Only one way to end the war in Iraq" (have Congress cut off *all* funding)

[Stuart Levy]

This seems especially relevant given the phone-your-congresspeople call-in
today (12/4).

In the 12/1 Huffington Post, and republished in Common Dreams,
Dennis Kucinich of Ohio writes:

   There is only one way in which the United States will withdraw
   from Iraq, prior to the end of President Bush's term:
   Congress must vote to cut off funds.

He cites a 1999 US District court case in which a bunch of US House members
sued Clinton to stop making war in Serbia.  The court ruled that,
since Congress had appropriated money for the war, it had implicitly
given consent to the whole thing.

Other resolutions, or even reducing the appropriation would be ineffective,
Kucinich argues, as the administration would still have loopholes for
funding troops in the field.  Only cutting the appropriation altogether would
have legal force.

It's worth reading his full article (first of a series of two):

    http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1201-33.htm
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-dennis-kucinich/there-is-only-one-way-to-_b_35299.html

The second of the series looks at the economic effects of the war
in Iraq ("the unassailable fact is that the war is devouring
the hopes for any domestic agenda"):

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-dennis-kucinich/there-is-only-one-way-to-_b_35453.html

  - Stuart