(Washington, DC) -

Dissenting Statement on the Floor re: Defense Authorization Bill
Rep. Cynthia McKinney (GA)
May 10, 2006

Mr. Speaker, I anticipate today that mine will be one of the few votes against this bill, just as I cast the only dissenting vote on the bill in committee.  I have submitted a thoroughgoing written statement of the reasons for my dissent.

President Theodore Roosevelt said:

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."

Americans are expressing their criticism of our President and his war in opinion polls showing the President's approval rating is the lowest it has been during his tenure.  But Congress continues to march in step with the President's war plans.

The wars and military operations we are funding through this Defense Authorization Act are based on a simple Use of Force authorization passed by this Congress in October of 2001, which was to have been linked to the provisions of the War Powers Act of 1973.  Thus it is Congress that paved the way for the disastrous war in Iraq.  And Congress must accept that it, too, bears responsibility for this war.

No regular review of that authorization has taken place, and it has been cited by the President to justify pre-emptive war, the creation of a dual legal system and military tribunals, imprisoning "enemy combatants" without due process, the abandonment of the Geneva Accords and UN principles relating to war, extralegal secret renditions involving illegal methods of interrogation including torture, expanded secrecy, and attacks on civil liberties at home.

Calls from the Executive for ending the principle of separating military and civilian policing by rescinding the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 should send a chill to all who value our prized civil liberties.

We are quick to honor our young men and women in uniform with words and medals.  But do we honor them where it really counts-in the pocketbook?  In the hospitals for amputees and third degree burns? This Congress must do better to represent and to serve, the American people and our people in uniform.

Unchecked fraudulent recruitment, failed retention, violation of rights and regulations, stop-loss policies and over-rotation, lack of adequate protection for combat troops, protection of rights of conscience, diminished medical care for troops and their families, decreases in veterans benefits, environmental damage done by the manufacture, storage and use of military weapons, falsified benefits and bonuses, and privatization of functions all remain inadequately addressed by the passage of this bill, and in some cases they are worsened.

By passing this bill virtually without dissent, the Congress is effectively legitimizing these unprecedented actions of the Executive.

As we enter a fourth year of war in Iraq the level of violence in Iraq continues unabated. It is higher than it has been at any time since the U.S.-led invasion of March 2003.

As we enter a fifth year in Afghanistan, there is renewed violence and the specter of another drawn-out war.

Meanwhile, our military budget continues to grow to unprecedented levels along with the deficits it is creating. We now have a larger and more lethal military force, and a more expanded intelligence budget and consolidation than we did at the height of the Cold War. That threat has receded, but the threat of unconsolidated and ill-equipped terrorist groups has been used to expand the funding of huge corporate contracts for weapons and war while denying the human suffering and needs that face us.

According to Pentagon figures, we are spending $9 billion a month to wage the wars on Iraq and Afghanistan. That comes to $300 million a day, $12.5 million an hour, over $200,000 a minute, and $3,500 a second.

After the Second World War, President Truman set up a Commission to investigate war profiteering and the government asked that corporations plow their war profits back into social programs to help rebuild the post-war economy.  But today, corporations are profiting from war and its related military activities as never before, with a green light from the White House to proceed, despite massive abuse, waste, and corruption.

Our current military budget is larger than the budgets of every other major country in the world combined, both allies and perceived enemies. Our nuclear arsenal and other weapons systems are maintained and defended while new systems with no legitimate utility are designed and promoted each year.

It is time for these wars to end and for alternative military budgets that reduce the waste on flawed weapons systems to be considered by this Congress.  More diplomacy.  Less Pentagon waste on little or non-used weapons systems.  Less support for corrupt regimes in the developing world.  More support for the judiciary in law-abiding regimes that respect human rights.  And most of all, a global plan to eliminate poverty.  Those who commit acts of terrorism may not themselves be motivated by poverty, but they are able to thrive where they can exploit the hopes and dreams of the poor and the oppressed.

As many have said, terrorism is a tactic, not an enemy.  The victory over terrorism will not come through war, but through peace and prosperity.