Kucinich Asks Tough Questions of Bush, Rumsfeld
…Kucinich’s April 5 letter to Rumsfeld began, “I am writing to request a copy of all records pertaining to Pentagon plans to use U.S. Special Forces to advise, support and train Iraqi assassination and kidnapping teams.”
He referred to the January 5, 2005 Newsweek report of Pentagon plans to train elite Iraqi troops to put down growing violence there, dubbed “the Salvador option.” He then cited 15 news reports since this time last year, suggesting that “the U.S. has trained and supported highly organized Iraqi commando brigades, and … some of those brigades have operated as death squads, abducting and assassinating thousands of Iraqis.”
Finally, Kucinich asked, “Mr. Secretary, in light of this evidence of U.S. support for and the existence of death squads in Iraq, what is the basis for your January 11, 2005 statement, that the idea of a Salvador option in Iraq is ‘nonsense’?”
Kucinich’s letters to the President concerned Iran. In his April 14 letter, he asked about reports that troops are already operating in Iran. If these reports are true, he suggested, “it appears that you have already made the decision to commit U.S. military forces to a unilateral conflict with Iran, even before direct or indirect negotiations with the government of Iran had been attempted, without UN support and without authorization from the U.S. Congress.”
In conclusion, Kucinich wrote, “Any military deployment to Iran would constitute an urgent matter of national significance. I urge you to report immediately to Congress on all activities involving American forces in Iran.”
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