Congresswoman Cynthia Ann McKinney
124 Cannon Building Washington, DC 20515
ph 202 225 1605 fax 202 226 0691
http://www.house.gov/mckinney/
"Representative McKinney is in alignment with Representative Kucinich in
the fact that they want to expose the truth. She is very brave and is
receiving threats... so she needs etheric, spiritual, emotional, mental
support. (...) Those of bravery within the Congress of the U.S. are
beginning to "soar". This is a miracle."
Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney reads her essay/commentary on the
"war against terrorism" in an interview with Dennis Bernstein broadcast on
Flashpoints on 3/25/02 -- http://www.flashpoints.net [audio at:]
http://www.flashpoints.net/realaudio/fp20020325.ram [go to minute 30:00]
Complete text of her (excellent) essay/commentary can be found at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/portside/message/2198
This is an excerpt, followed by Dennis Bernstein's questions and her
response:
(...) And so, with no concern at all for the effects on others of US
supported terrorism the US, with its bombs and military, embarked on a
world-wide crusade against terrorism that Bush said likely will last as
many as 20 years. The list of target countries is long, with
Afghanistan, Somalia, Tanzania, Kenya, Sudan, the Philippines, and Iraq
offering the starters. But what of the fact that Henry Kissinger and the
current new US Ambassador to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, both once
lobbied Washington, DC on behalf of a US oil company, Unocal, and a softer
policy toward the Taliban?
Whose war is this really?
In November 2000 Republicans stole from America our most precious right of
all, the right to free and fair elections. In an organized manner,
Florida Governor Jeb Bush and his Secretary of State Katharine Harris
created a list of convicted felons, 57,700 to be exact, to "scrub" from the
state's voter roles. The names were created from Florida records and from
lists provided by 11 other states, the largest list coming from Texas. We
now know that most of the people on that list were innocent of crimes. The
list was a phony. And worse, the majority of those rightful voters were
people of color, and likely Democratic voters. Of the thousands who had
their votes scrubbed, 80% are African Americans. Had they voted, the course
of history would have changed. Harris declared Bush the victor by only 537
votes. President Carter has said that the Carter Center would not certify
the 2001 election had they been asked to do so .Consequently an
administration of questionable legitimacy has been given unprecedented
power to fight a war against terrorism. ...
Moreover, persons close to this administration are poised to make huge
profits off America's new war. Former President Bush sits on the board
of the Carlyle Group. The Los Angeles Times reports that on a single day
last month, Carlyle earned 237 million dollars selling shares in United
Defense Industries, the Army's fifth-largest contractor. The stock offering
was well timed. Carlyle officials say they decided to take the company
public only after the September 11 attacks. The stock sale cashed in on
increased Congressional support, a hefty defense spending including one of
United Defense's cornerstone weapons program.
Now is the time for our elected officials to be held accountable. Now
is the time for the media to be held accountable. Why aren't the hard
questions being asked?
We know there were numerous warnings of the events to come on September 11.
Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, delivered one such warning. Those
engaged in unusual stock trades immediately before September 11 knew
enough to make millions of dollars from United and American airlines,
certain insurance and brokerage firms' stocks. What did this administration
know and when did it know it, about the events of September 11? Who else
knew and why did they not warn the innocent people of New York who were
needlessly murdered.
September 11 erased the lines between "over there" and "over here." The
American people can no longer afford to be detached from the world, as
our actions abroad will have a direct impact on our lives at home. In
Washington DC, decisions affecting home and abroad are made, and too
many of us leave the responsibility of protecting our freedom to other
people whose interests are not our own.
>From Durban to Kabul to Atlanta to Washington, what our government
does in our name is important. It is also now clear that our future, our
security, and our rights depend on our vigilance.
[end of essay]
DB: Well, Congresswoman Cynthia Mckinney, it is great to have you with us
on Flashpoints. I wanted to follow up on that very powerful commentary with
just a few questions that come off speeches you have made from the House
floor on related information. First of all, why do you oppose the Rumsfeld
48.1 billion dollar increase in the military budget? What is most troubling
about this for you?
CM: It was incredible sitting in the room on the day that secretary
Rumsfeld gave his presentation to members of the Armed Services
Committee. Of course I serve on the House Armed Services Committee, and
every year the
Secretary of Defense comes before that Committee with a statement on the
budget.
Now, the $48.1 billion increase that Secretary Rumsfeld requested was
interesting because basically what he said was we can afford it.
Notwithstanding the fact that the Pentagon has lost 2.3 trillion
dollars that we very well cannot afford to have lost.
DB: Lost it? Where did they lose it?
CM: That's a darn good question. You would think that Arthur Anderson is
their accountant over there. They have lost 2.3 trillion dollars, and they
don't know where to find that money. And of course the Secretary
acknowledged the fact 2.3 trillion dollars remain unaccounted for, but in
his testimony to the House Armed Services Committee, the Secretary said that
the US can afford it. Now, he also said that we have a responsibility in
this brave new post September 11 world, to make sure that we can adequately
defend ourselves. And what he used as a justification for this
unprecedented hike, the biggest hike in a generation, was the fact of the
events around September 11. But as you know, and I know, it wasn't the
military that failed. It was a failure of people who had information to act.
We know that there were several warnings that were given prior to the
events of September 11. From people in Germany to people in the Cayman
Islands to people even, now we learn about the owners of the pilot school.
People were calling in to the FBI and the CIA and they were giving
information that was critical.
Even prior to these warnings we had the trial itself from the 1993
World Trade Center bombing. And we had the trial from the American embassy
bombing... And now the US government is being sued by survivors of the
embassy bombings, because it is clear that America had warnings and did
nothing. Did nothing to protect the lives of the people who serve in our
foreign service and who serve us in other ways in our embassies around the
world. Now the US government is being sued, and we're gonna have to pay for
that, as those families are now paying every day with the loss of their
loved ones
There was adequate warning. There were people who failed to act on the
warning. And that's what ought to be investigated. But instead of
requesting that Congress investigate what went wrong and why, we had
president Bush (painful for me to say that, but) we had president Bush
placing a call to Majority Leader Senator Tom Daschle asking him NOT to
investigate the events of September 11, And then, hot on the heels of
the president's phone call was another phone call from the vice president
asking that Tom Daschle also not investigate the events that lead to
September 11.
My question is, What do they have to hide? And why is it that the
American people are being asked to make tremendous sacrifices now in our
civil liberties. And the fact that we got this request for an unprecedented
hike in -- the hike alone of 48.1 billion dollars is more than any one of
our allies spend total on their defense.
And then the other issue that saddens me is the fact that the former
President, president Bush's daddy, sits on the board of the Carlyle
Group. And so we get this presidency, of questionable legitimacy, requesting
a nearly unprecedented amount of money to go into a defense budget for
defense spending that will directly benefit his father.
Where are the brakes on transparency and corruption that I see
happening as a result of the fact that the president's father stands to
make money off of the very requests that the president has made, on what I
would call a specious argument saying that we need to increase defense
spending because of Sept 11, when we now know that there was enough warning
that we didn't have to even experience September 11 at all; at least that's
the way it is now beginning to appear.
DB: How would the father make money on this budget?
CM: The father sits on the board of an organization called the Carlyle
Group. Now when we had Frank Carlucci come to testify at the House
International Relations Committee shortly after George W was sworn in,
DB: former Defense Secretary
CM: former Defense Secretary -- and we have a requirement that
organizations that come before our committee, the House International
Relations Committee, have to disclose Federal contracts. And so I
requested of our chairman, Chairman Hyde, whether or not the Carlyle Group
would be subjected to that requirement, since everyone else has to do it.
And of course the Carlyle Group was NOT required to make any disclosure as
to the Federal contracts that it had. That in itself means that they are
skirting the rules of the House.
Notwithstanding that, the fact that the father sits on the board of the
Carlyle Group, which is one of the highest level defense contractors in
the country. I think they're number 11 or 12 in defense contracts. And they
have at least one program, the Crusader, which doesn't work, it's a
weapons system that doesn't work, has experienced tremendous cost overruns,
and yet it continues to be funded, and we can only think that it's the heavy
hand of very well-placed lobbyists that make sure that weapons systems that
are, that have a connection with the Carlyle Group get funded. And even
building contracts: bases abroad, all of the bases that we are now looking
at, new bases going into Uzbekistan. The positioning of troops in former
Soviet Georgia -- those troops are going to have to be housed, fed, and the
weapons systems are going to have to be contained, and all of that is money.
And sadly the Carlyle Group will benefit from this increase in funding that
has been requested by the president.
Interestingly also, and probably the scariest of all, was the new
mission, as identified by the Secretary, for our Armed Services. And that is
that a major role now for the US military will be to occupy an opponent's
capital and displace its regime.
Now, if that's the mission -- and we've been told that there are as
many as 60 countries around the world that host terror cells that we need
to go in and flush out -- then basically what we're talking about is
expanding US military presence all over the planet. And that is a
frightening experience and a frightening thought for me because I know that
if we provide weapons they get used. And if our troops are there, they are
going to use those weapons and those weapons that we provide might even be
used against our own troops; we have to be very careful about that.
But interestingly the Secretary said that they intend to "drain the
swamp", and it's interesting to me that it appears to me that this new
mission of our military to go into a capital and take it over was started
in Washington DC.
DB: Final question, Congresswoman McKinney. These are mighty powerful
thoughts you're expressing here. I'm wondering how much support you have in
Congress, and perhaps you have heard from people who are quite unhappy with
your voicing these kinds of very strong, controversial thoughts
CM: It's always good to hear from people who think like you. I
definitely hear from people who don't think like you. And that's healthy.
It's a part of the American process. But just as it's healthy for me to hear
from people who don't think like me, it's also very healthy for people like
me to have a voice and to be willing to speak. And it's totally
inappropriate, I believe, for my patriotism to be questioned, my feelings of attachment and loyalty for America to be questioned
DB: Has it been questioned?
CM: You would be surprised at the hate mail that I get in the
Congressional office.
DB: What do people say to you?
CM: I wish I had a piece right here and I'd read it to you. We got one
piece that told me that I needed to go back to Africa and take Jesse
with me. it seems that the people who write in find it impossible to omit
the fact that I'm black. And so the racial aspect of the hatred also comes
out.
I can accept people who disagree. But I don't know that we need thought
police in our universities, because our universities are supposed to
teach freedom of thought. And I don't know that we need thought police and
speech police inside the US Congress, because the Congress is supposed to
represent Americans of all stripes and all ideologies. And I know that there
is a very powerful peace movement in this country. I hear from them, I know
they're out there. I'd love to hear a little bit more from them.
DB: Well, we have very much appreciated hearing from you today.
Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, reading her essay "Thoughts on our war
against terrorism", and then speaking with us on Flashpoints here on
Pacifica radio. We thank you so much for your time and your good information
and commentary.
CM: Thank you very much and I look forward to talking with you again.
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