Kucinich, Abercrombie, Jones (R-NC) & Paul (R-TX) press conference

[eridani]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

JUNE 15, 2005

2:12 PM

CONTACT: Congressman Dennis Kucinich

Doug Gordon [phone] (o) [phone] (c)

Bipartisan Coalition Of Members To Hold Press Conference To Announce Legislation Calling on President to Set Plan For Beginning Phase-out of US Troops in Iraq Reps. Jones (R-NC), Paul (R-TX), Abercrombie (D-HI), Kucinich (D-OH) To Hold Press Conference Thursday at 10:30am In House Radio TV Gallery


WASHINGTON - June 15 - A bipartisan coalition of Members of Congress will hold a press conference on Thursday, June 16th at 10:30am in the House Radio/TV Gallery (Room H-321) of the Capitol to introduce the first bipartisan legislation that will call on President Bush to set a plan for beginning the phase-out of US troops in Iraq.

Speaking at tomorrow's press conference will be Representatives Walter Jones (R-NC), Ron Paul (R-TX), Neil Abercrombie (D-HI) and Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH), original cosponsors of the Joint Resolution.

The resolution is the first bipartisan legislation to set a start date for drawing down the numbers of US troops in Iraq.

Who: Reps. Jones (R-NC), Paul (R-TX), Abercrombie (D-HI) and Kucinich (D-OH)

What: Press conference to announce bipartisan legislation to begin the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq.

Where: House Radio/TV Gallery (Room H-321) US Capitol

When: 10:30am, TOMORROW, Thursday, June 16th

[eridani]

1. Covered by Fox and CNN

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,159752,00.html

CAVUTO: Do you think, Congressman, though, that you're feeling a little heat? Obviously, everyone pains for the loss of every American soldier who dies. And you pull tail now?

KUCINICH: Well, you know what? It's not about pulling tail.

Every American who has served there, every American who gave their life, every family that has felt a sacrifice there needs to be honored and appreciated. But we have to make sure that we don't...

CAVUTO: But do we honor and appreciate them, sir, when we pull out now, potentially creating civil war in that country and havoc and then, for all of the soldiers who have died, we're essentially saying, you wasted your effort?

KUCINICH: Oh, no. No. There's no lives wasted, because people who serve should be honored for their service to the country, but there comes a time when we have to ask, is it appropriate for our troops to be there any longer?

And we believe, and the ones who will be there tomorrow believe that it's appropriate for us to start planning to bring our troops home. There must come a time where we say, now we have to start bringing our troops home. Whatever reason we went there for, there's a point at which we have to say, it's about the troops. It's about bringing them home.

We should not leave them in that condition any longer. And so, we've come together with a plan, which we'll be releasing tomorrow, that will enable the American people to see that Congress is responding from both sides of the aisle with a plan to bring our troops home.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/06/16/us.iraqresolution/index.html

The Republican congressman who pushed for "french fries" to be renamed "freedom fries" joined a bipartisan group of House members Thursday to call on President Bush to begin plans for a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq.

Rep. Walter Jones of North Carolina said it is time for Congress to start talking about bringing American troops home from Iraq.
A White House spokesman emphasized the need to complete the mission and said Bush intends to "sharpen his focus" in his public appearances to counter a sag in public support for the war.

The proposed House resolution calls on Bush to announce by year's end a plan for a withdrawal from Iraq that would begin by October 1, 2006.

"After 1,700 deaths, over 12,000 wounded and $200 billion spent, we believe it is time to have this debate and this discussion on this resolution," said Jones, a member of the House Armed Services Committee.

Other sponsors are Republican Rep. Ron Paul, a former Libertarian presidential candidate from Texas; Democratic Rep. Neil Abercrombie of Hawaii, another Armed Services Committee member; and Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who sought the Democratic presidential nomination as an antiwar candidate last year.

[katinmn]

2. Also covered by my local NBC affiliate! (Video)

Hi eridani--

I posted this in GD and the MN forums.... Was just on my way to post it here. Very positive day yesterday. Do you think I should add it to the Kucinich discussion forum, too? (Not this one, the official one.)

----------------------------------------------------------
KARE11 video on Iraqi visitors to MN & troop withdrawl bill (Jones)

Good report from KARE11! They were the only TV station at the forum last night. Other media that covered or plan to report on the visit are the Strib, Wendy Wilde (AAR), Spokesman-Recorder, Pulse (great cover story this week), City Pages, and numerous union newspapers. Several hundred people attended the forum.

As posted previously, two Iraqi labor leaders were in St. Paul yesterday talking about the impact of the occupation on Iraqi workers as part of a 20+ U.S. city tour. (See my sig line) The Iraqis said only U.S. troop withdrawal will end the violence.

For the first time I can feel the momentum building across the country and I feel it's a question of when, not if. Peace!

High Speed (Windows)http://www.kare11.com/player.aspx?aid=15612&bw=
Dial-up (Windows)
http://www.kare11.com/player.aspx?aid=15613&bw=

http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=99 ...
A bi-partisan group of U.S. lawmakers says the time has come to begin pulling American troops out of Iraq. They say they want a firm timetable from President Bush, but the White House says that's not going to happen.

North Carolina Republican Walter Jones was once so supportive of the war in Iraq; he coined the term ‘freedom fries’ to mock reluctant France. On Thursday, he expressed reservations of his own.
-snip-
But two Iraqi union organizers brought to Minnesota by the United Steelworkers Union, argue that the presence of U.S. troops is drawing foreign terrorists to their country who wouldn't otherwise be there.

Amjad Ali Aljawhry says the Iraqi people can take care of themselves, “The Iraqi people don’t need a babysitter.”
-more-

[eridani]

4. Sure, unless Claudia beat you to it! n/t

[katinmn]

3. Hope Dennis was able to take a shower immediately after the Faux

interview.:eyes:

[genius]

5. I've heard that Move-on is misnaming the bill

They're calling it the Abercrombie-Paul bill even though Dennis co-wrote the thing with Abercrombie. It reminds me of all the people who are afraid of Dennis getting too much publicity.

Dennis was also the one who brought in Paul and Jones.