In the wake of the Bush-Maliki Declaration of an "enduring relationship," TalkingPointsMemo is doing its usual outstanding work by collecting statements from the Democratic Presidential candidates on keeping permanent U.S. bases in Iraq...
Like Obama, Clinton, and Dodd, Edwards doesn't address the fact that many have already been built, or say what he will do with them.
Kucinich sounded the alarm about Bush's construction of permanent bases back on 4/14/05, when he released a Congressional Research Service (CRS) report that found over $1 billion for military construction in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In 2006, Kucinich cosponsored Rep. Barbara Lee's bill to close permanent bases, which did pass the House. He has also been adamant about withdrawing all U.S. troops bringing the private contrators back, Not allowing privatization of Iraq's oil, and handing back reconstruction contracts and stability to the Iraqi economy: Basically all of the aspects of the U.S. Occupation which is the main causse of violence and instability in the region.
H.R. 1234-The Kucinich Plan For Iraq:
(1) the United States should end the occupation of Iraq immediately, simultaneously with the introduction of a United Nations-led international peacekeeping force pursuant to an agreement with nations within the region and which incorporates the terms and conditions specified in section 1;
(2) the Department of Defense should use readily available existing funds to bring all United States troops and necessary equipment home while a political settlement is being negotiated and preparations are made for a transition to an international security and peacekeeping force;
(3) the Department of Defense should order a simultaneous return of all United States contractors and subcontractors and turn over all contracting work to the Iraqi Government;
(4) the United Nations should be encouraged to prepare an international security and peacekeeping force to be deployed to Iraq, replacing United States troops who then return home;
(5) the United States should provide funding for a United Nations peacekeeping mission, in which 50 percent of the peacekeeping troops should come from nations with large Muslim populations;
(6) the international security force, under United Nations direction, should remain in place until the Iraqi Government is capable of handling its own security;
(7) the Iraqi Government, with assistance from the United Nations, should immediately restart the failed reconstruction program in Iraq and rebuild roads, bridges, schools, hospitals, and other public facilities, houses, and factories with jobs and job training going to local Iraqis;
(8) the Iraqi Government, in an act of political sovereignty, should set aside initiatives to privatize Iraqi oil interests or other national assets and abandon all efforts, whether at the behest of the United States or otherwise, to change Iraqi national law to facilitate privatization;
(9) the Iraq Government, in an act of political sovereignty, should set forth a plan to stabilize Iraq's cost for food and energy, on par to what the prices were before the United States invasion and occupation;
(10) the Iraqi Government, in an act of political sovereignty, should strive for economic sovereignty for Iraq by working with the world community to restore Iraq's fiscal integrity without structural readjustment measures of the International Monetary Funds or the World Bank;
(11) the United States should initiate a reparations program for the loss of Iraqi lives, physical and emotional injuries, and damage to property, which should include an effort to rescue the tens of thousands of Iraqi orphans from lives of destitution; and
(12) the United States should refrain from any covert operations in Iraq and any attempts to destabilize the Iraqi Government.
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