Kucinich: My concern is that he doesn't have a plan to get out, and therefore tends to be there for a while and that's very dangerous for this country, and for the men and women who serve, for the long-term hopes for peace in the world, it's a central question. I kept pressing him but still didn't get the answer.
CC: Is there a difference between Kerry and Bush?
Kucinich: Not on Iraq, that we can see. Senator Kerry said there were weapons of mass destruction. And, repeating what President Bush said, he used that as a basis to support the war, as President Bush did. He supported the occupation as President Bush has. Senator Kerry wants to send more troops. I think we have to be very careful that we're not getting into a quagmire here and I think that Senator Kerry hasn't demonstrated that he's taken care to avoid that.
CC: Has any other presidential candidate demonstrated a desire to get out of Iraq?
Kucinich: I think Al Sharpton will support my position, but no one's really outlined a program in a way that I have. I've outlined a specific program that describes the circumstances in which we can get UN peacekeepers in and get our troops home. We should be talking about bringing our troops home.
CC: What if Kerry or Edwards gets elected? Will there be any difference here in America?
Kucinich: Look, every Democrat running is certainly different than George Bush, but I don't want to be in a position of trading a Republican war for a Democratic war, of trading a Republican corporate-controlled healthcare system for a Democratic corporate-controlled healthcare system, trading a Republican version of NAFTA and the WTO for a Democratic version of NAFTA and the WTO. We really have to make sure that the major issues that affect peace in the world and here at home that we describe some sharp diferences with George Bush. If we fail to do that it will be very difficult to win the election.
CC: You have been criticized for being soft on the war on terror. Do you have any comments?
Kucinich: I think the President and the administration has been soft-headed about it. They took us into a war we didn't have to get into. You want to talk about being soft on terror? You know, they are dumb on terror. They are creating a situation where we created more threats to the United States by our invasion of Iraq then we ever had before. We don't know about 9/11, yet, how it occured. They're basically covering up 9/11, and so we're not any safer today than we were four years ago. We're less safe. It's because this administration and their policies of, A) ignoring gathering threats and B) attacking nations which did not attack us.
CC: Why is the Bush Administration ignoring 9/11?
Kucinich: I think that there are questions being raised that they can't answer without grave political consequences. So, why else would they? You figure it out. Why won't they give the answers on 9/11?
CC: Do you think they knew about 9/11?
Kucinich: I don't know that. But we know one thing - they're not talking about it.
CC: Do you have any idea how you would like to be your running mate for Vice President?
Kucinich: There are a lot of really good people in the House and the Senate, men and women, people of all colors and I would consider any one of them.
Interview by Charlene Coates (:divend:)