GAO Report Shows The Administration Refuses To Take Responsibility For Initiating a War Based On Lies


Washington, Aug 30 - Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) said the draft of a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report as detailed by The Washington Post today, is a question of whether the United States is going to get out of Iraq.

The article states that Iraq has failed to meet all but three of 18 Congressionally-mandated benchmarks for political and military progress and questions whether some aspects of a more positive assessment by the White House last month adequately reflected the range of views the GAO found within the Administration.

"The report states the Iraqi government is making unsatisfactory progress toward enacting and implementing a 'hydrocarbon law.' This 'hydrocarbon law' is in reality a law that would privatize Iraq's own oil. There has been a broad deception about the content of the hydrocarbon law, a deception which has taken in Members of Congress and the media," Kucinich said.

"Central to the coercive benchmarks is the privatization of Iraq's oil, a wholesale theft of nearly $30 trillion of Iraq assets. This is what the war was about and the Administration and the Congress continue to pressure Iraq to give away the wealth of their nation to U.S. companies. This theft of Iraq's oil resources through the ruse of 'mandated benchmarks' constitutes a violation of international law.

"We do not have to fund the war. We must tell the President NO to any additional funding. No legislation is required. No vote is required. We have the money to bring the troops home. It does not require a vote. The only thing required is honesty, integrity and a willingness to end the war. The war is not going to end if we try to privatize Iraq's oil.

"The Administration is not taking responsibility for its war based on lies. The President and the Vice President have no credibility whatsoever on matters relating to our national defense. They sent more than 3,700 of our brave men and women to their deaths. Congress must act to end the war and end it now," Kucinich concluded.

http://kucinich.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=72672