[Peace] How Can We Justify This? (fwd)

[parenti susan rose]

Though this rightfully should go on the peace-discuss list, I'm sending it
to the general AWARE list, to invite people to e mail back this
Congressman. This is the first writing, first sign, I've seen of someone
questioning what's going on from inside the government (besides the
California woman who did not vote to give Bush his current powers).

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 24 Feb 2002 22:31:57 -0800
From: Arun Chandra <arunc at evergreen.edu>
To: sdas <sdas at onthejob.net>
Subject: [Sdas] How Can We Justify This?


the following was written by an elected member of congress --- do any of
you know of his work?


arun


How Can We Justify This?

By Representative Dennis J. Kucinich (D-Ohio)

Let us pray that our nation will remember that the unfolding of the
promise of
democracy in our nation paralleled the striving for civil rights. That
is why
we must challenge the rationale of the Patriot Act. We must ask why should
America put aside guarantees of constitutional justice?

How can we justify in effect canceling the First Amendment and the right of
free speech, the right to peaceably assemble?

How can we justify in effect canceling the Fourth Amendment, probable cause,
the prohibitions against unreasonable search and seizure?
How can we justify in effect canceling the Fifth Amendment, nullifying due
process, and allowing for indefinite incarceration without a trial?

How can we justify in effect canceling the Sixth Amendment, the right to
prompt
and public trial?

How can we justify in effect canceling the Eighth Amendment which protects
against cruel and unusual punishment?

We cannot justify widespread wiretaps and internet surveillance without
judicial supervision, let alone with it. We cannot justify secret searches
without a warrant. We cannot justify giving the Attorney General the
ability to
designate domestic terror groups. We cannot justify giving the FBI total
access
to any type of data which may exist in any system anywhere such as medical
records and financial records.

We cannot justify giving the CIA the ability to target people in this
country
for intelligence surveillance. We cannot justify a government which
takes from
the people our right to privacy and then assumes for its own operations
a right
to total secrecy. The Attorney General recently covered up a statue of Lady
Justice showing her bosom as if to underscore there is no danger of justice
exposing herself at this time, before this administration.

Let us pray that our nation's leaders will not be overcome with fear.
Because
today there is great fear in our great Capitol. And this must be understood
before we can ask about the shortcomings of Congress in the current
environment. The great fear began when we had to evacuate the Capitol on
September 11. It continued when we had to leave the Capitol again when a
bomb
scare occurred as members were pressing the CIA during a secret briefing. It
continued when we abandoned Washington when anthrax, possibly
from a government lab, arrived in the mail. It continued when the Attorney
General declared a nationwide terror alert and then the Administration
brought
the destructive Patriot Bill to the floor of the House. It continued in the
release of the Bin Laden tapes at the same time the President was announcing
the withdrawal from the ABM treaty. It remains present in the cordoning
off of
the Capitol. It is present in the camouflaged armed national guardsmen who
greet members of Congress each day we enter the
Capitol campus. It is present in the labyrinth of concrete barriers through
which we must pass each time we go to vote. The trappings of a state of
siege
trap us in a state of fear, ill equipped to deal with the Patriot Games, the
Mind Games, the War Games of an unelected President and his unelected Vice
President.

Let us pray that our country will stop this war. "To promote the common
defense" is one of the formational principles of America. Our Congress
gave the
President the ability to respond to the tragedy of September the
Eleventh. We
licensed a response to those who helped bring the terror of September the
Eleventh. But we the people and our elected
representatives must reserve the right to measure the response, to
proportion
the response, to challenge the response, and to correct the response.

Because we did not authorize the invasion of Iraq.

We did not authorize the invasion of Iran.

We did not authorize the invasion of North Korea.

We did not authorize the bombing of civilians in Afghanistan.

We did not authorize permanent detainees in Guantanamo Bay.

We did not authorize the withdrawal from the Geneva Convention.

We did not authorize military tribunals suspending due process and habeas
corpus.

We did not authorize assassination squads.

We did not authorize the resurrection of COINTELPRO.

We did not authorize the repeal of the Bill of Rights.

We did not authorize the revocation of the Constitution.

We did not authorize national identity cards.

We did not authorize the eye of Big Brother to peer from cameras throughout
our cities.

We did not authorize an eye for an eye.

Nor did we ask that the blood of innocent people, who perished on
September 11,
be avenged with the blood of innocent villagers in Afghanistan.

We did not authorize the administration to wage war anytime, anywhere,
anyhow
it pleases.

We did not authorize war without end.

We did not authorize a permanent war economy.

Yet we are upon the threshold of a permanent war economy. The President has
requested a $45.6 billion increase in military spending. All defense-related
programs will cost close to $400 billion. Consider that the Department of
Defense has never passed an independent audit. Consider that the Inspector
General has notified Congress that the Pentagon cannot properly account for
$1.2 trillion in transactions. Consider that in recent years the Dept. of
Defense could not match $22 billion worth of expenditures to the items
it purchased, wrote off, as lost, billions of dollars worth of in-transit
inventory and stored nearly $30 billion worth of spare parts it did not
need.

Yet the defense budget grows with more money for weapons systems to fight a
cold war which ended, weapon systems in search of new enemies to create new
wars. This has nothing to do with fighting terror. This has everything to do
with fueling a military industrial machine with the treasure of our nation,
risking the future of our nation, risking democracy itself with the
militarization of thought which follows the militarization of the
budget.

United States Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich (D-Ohio)
Email responses to Dkucinich at a...
-- 


Arun Chandra
email: arunc at evergreen.edu
phone: (360) 867-6077
   fax: (360) 866-6663
  post: COM 301
        The Evergreen State College
        Olympia, WA 98505




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