Congressman Dennis Kucinich has recently returned from a fact finding mission to Lebanon and Israel and it is interesting to see the contrast of the damage done in the recent violence...
“Village after village was reduced to piles of rubble. We saw thousands of destroyed homes. We also saw bombed out hospitals, schools, factories, churches, mosques, fire stations, gas stations, cars, bridges, roads, water systems, electric systems, banana plantations, and lemon groves,” Kucinich said.
“In several villages we stopped and walked through piles of concrete and dust from what had once been homes. Public areas were littered with unexploded cluster bombs and land mines. The smell of death was everywhere. Homes still standing upon closer inspection had holes in the walls from artillery shells.”
After the Israelis suddenly canceled their flight from Beirut to Tel Aviv , Kucinich found a car to drive from Beirut, through Syria, Jordan and across the bridge into the West Bank.
The Kuciniches had hoped to visit the affected areas in northern Israel but were told by Israeli officials that there would not be much to see because repairs were almost completed.
After viewing the separation wall, Kucinch had a private meeting with 8 representatives from organizations doing work in Jerusalem....
After about 2 hours of dragging out maps of the division between east and west Jerusalem, the wall route, the settlements, the separation between Gaza and the rest of the West Bank, and other enlightening information, he finally stood up, spread his hands across the maps and said in a voice filled with disbelief, “This is diabolical!” Needless to say, we all agreed. For someone like Kucinich who has made some strong statements regarding the issue of Palestine and is currently working on getting a Department of Peace and Non-violence started at the Cabinet level (he already has over 60 other Congressional sign-ons) I was happy that he finally “got it”, but not surprised that he was as uninformed as he seemed to be.
After all of the death and destruction, the people of Lebanon were determined to deliver a message of peace...
“We do not hate America. We love the American people. We do not like what your government does. Please tell the American people that we are not terrorists. We do not hate Israel. We want to be safe in our village. We want to be left alone. We want peace.”
Unfortunately it doesn’t seem that Israel feels the same...
“The US State Dept just issued a warning for all Americans to leave Gaza and northern Israel. For those of us who have been around a while, we recognize that to mean that Israel is planning another “operation” and don’t want us in the way”
Forum posts
5 September 2006, 09:47
Did this a**hole vote to do this to the Iraqis? Don’t forget he’s a member of the most corrupt congress in history( and considering it’s past record, that’s saying something)!!!
5 September 2006, 11:21
No he did not,you are confused-do more research on this manAND re-examine the SUBJECT of the above article.
5 September 2006, 11:29
I know the article is about Lebanon. What I meant was is he one of the ones who voted to do the same thing to Iraq.I’ve heard good things about this guy, but bottom line, he’s a politican so right there, he’s suspect, and I don’t trust him.
5 September 2006, 16:58
NO, he is NOT an asshole and did NOT vote to do this to Iraq! As a matter of fact, HE lead the fight AGAINST WAR ON IRAQ IN U.S. HOUSE, talking 150 Reps. into voting against war on Iraq! He is NOT an asshole!
5 September 2006, 23:39
And then threw his support in 2004 to John Kerry, who was pro-war from the word GO.
6 September 2006, 07:53
True, in the end he backed Kerry, but you have to understand that had he not done that the Democratic National Committee (DNC) would have done harmful things to his career. So, on the one hand we can blame him for not stepping out completely from DNC’s control on the other hand how many of us can leave our jobs when we need food and shelter.
Not to mention he would not get as much cooperation in Congress on other issues and that probably too much for anybody; when you have to fight your own team as well as the opposition.
During the 2004 campaigning he was giving long and detailed explainations as to why we needed to leave Iraq and how unfair and unfortunate this whole episode was — These were well beyond the 3 second sound bite that most Americans’ attention spans.
There might be some reasons for not liking Kucinich but there are other reasons to think he is a fair man and is balancing between his and other peoples’ realities.
6 September 2006, 11:15
Never forget, HE IS A POLITICIAN.
11 September 2006, 14:51
Hey, buddy, they are all POLITICIANS. Meaning: They are all mendacious and corrupt parasites.
Since when, you may well ask. Since before Cicero’s time, buddy, since before Cicero’s time.
What can you do about it, you may well ask? Do what 99% of humanity has done before us, grin and bear it. After all that is the purpose of peasants, to be duped, to suffer and to maintain the power and the wealth of their ’betters’. We might have all the advanced technology in the world, we might even have charters with rights and declarations of independence, we might even dare to think we are a free people, but to the common members of the ruling ’elite’, i.e., our political class, we are nothing but peasants and serfs to be duped with pretty words, to be used as chattel, to be nothing but human machinery.