DOVER, N.H. - The stunning admission

by Democratic frontrunners Clinton, Obama, and Edwards that they might keep

U.S. troops in Iraq beyond 2013 "is tantamount to an announcement of a

permanent occupation that could cost U.S. taxpayers $5 trillion and

bankrupt any opportunity to address health care reform, education, jobs, or

any other domestic policy initiatives," Presidential candidate Dennis

Kucinich said today.





DOVER, N.H. - The stunning admission

by Democratic frontrunners Clinton, Obama, and Edwards that they might keep

U.S. troops in Iraq beyond 2013 "is tantamount to an announcement of a

permanent occupation that could cost U.S. taxpayers $5 trillion and

bankrupt any opportunity to address health care reform, education, jobs, or

any other domestic policy initiatives," Presidential candidate Dennis

Kucinich said today.



In remarks prepared for a speech in New Hampshire tonight, Kucinich is

expected to challenge the credibility, motives, and fitness of the

Democratic frontrunners to serve as President "when they either voted to go

to war or voted to continue the war. They took us into this war, and, with

every vote for continued funding, they have kept us there. Now, they're

telling us we may be there forever, diverting trillions of dollars from

desperate domestic needs to financing an illegal, immoral, and endless war.

It is time to end this war, and it is time to expose their hypocrisy."



Kucinich noted that "Senators Clinton and Edwards were among the most

outspoken advocates in 2002 for giving President Bush the authorization he

wanted to invade and occupy Iraq. And, until he announced his candidacy

this year, Senator Obama supported the war every time he voted to continue

funding it. Whatever they say on the campaign trail, they have all voted in

support of this war -- repeatedly."



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"It is absolutely astonishing that these candidates have the audacity

to portray themselves as pro-peace and anti-war when their statements,

their actions, and their votes reveal just the opposite. They must be held

accountable and answerable for their roles in this illegal, immoral, and

disastrous war, and, that's what I intend to do."



Kucinich will be the keynote speaker tonight (Friday) at the North

Grafton County Democratic Party Annual John F Kennedy Dinner at the Peabody

Lodge in Franconia, NH. Tomorrow, he will be in Durham, NH for an afternoon

"Conversation/Dialogue" with students and faculty at the University of New

Hampshire.



Kucinich is the only Democratic Presidential candidate who voted

against the war authorization in 2002 and every supplemental funding

appropriation since then.



In October 2002, eight days before the House and Senate approved the

war-authorization resolution, Kucinich released his own analysis of

intelligence and information that accurately predicted subsequent events,

discoveries, and consequences. It pointed out that there was no connection

between Iraq and the events of 9/11 and that there was no credible evidence

that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. He led the fight in the

House against the war and rallied more than 120 other Congressman to oppose

the resolution. Kucinich's analysis also argued:

--"This language is so broad that it would allow the

President to order an attack against Iraq even when there is no

material threat to the United States."



--"A unilateral attack on Iraq by the United States will cause

instability and chaos in the region and sow the seeds of future

conflicts all over the world."



--"Unilateral action against Iraq will cost the United States the

support of the world community, adversely affecting the war on

terrorism."

In an interview today, Kucinich said, "Any candidate willing to

continue risking the lives of our brave men and women in uniform, continue

destroying the lives of millions and innocent Iraqis, and continue

embracing the corrupt foreign policy that led us into Iraq and keeps us

there is not fit to serve as President of the United States of America."



