hyperlinks and video live at source: http://www.examiner.com/x-18425-LA-County-Nonpartisan-Examiner~y2010m3d5-Kucinich-orders-Afghan-War-debate-vote-Trillions-...

Congressman Dennis Kucinich invoked a procedural rule to help protect Americans from endless war to compel members of Congress to debate and vote whether to continue US war in Afghanistan.

The war in Afghanistan is unlawful in Orwellian degree; tragic-comic in its violations of US war laws (useful analogy to well-understood laws for individual self-defense here). Although the laws of war are crystal-clear, complicit corporate media lies by omission and commission to explain what these laws have meant for 65 years and how they apply to unlawful US invasion of Afghanistan:

The US is the principle author of the UN Charter, a treaty that under the US Constitution has equal power with all US law that requires all nations to eliminate wars of choice.
The only lawful uses of war are self-defense upon armed attack by a nation’s government (or imminent threat of such) and/or authorization of the UN Security Council (UNSC).
UNSC Resolutions correctly categorized 9/11 as a terror attack and authoritatively declared the legal response of international cooperation with intelligence, arrest, and prosecution of those responsible for the criminal conspiracy of 9/11.
The US violated those UNSC Resolutions by attacking the country of Afghanistan; committing the worst crime a nation can damn another to suffer: an invading War of Aggression.
The US refused to provide any evidence of who was responsible for the 9/11 attacks, claiming they “knew” who did them, and refused the Afghan government’s offer to help locate, arrest, and extradite anyone who the evidence shown was involved.
The official version of 9/11 by the Bush Administration self-study was dependent upon torture-induced “confessions,” (and here) and now asserted as a provable lie by literally over a thousand professionals (and here) in qualified fields of academic and professional training who are legally classified as “expert witnesses” to walk people through the objective evidence. These people include members of the 9/11 Commission, members of Congress, military leaders, intelligence agency professionals, scientists, structural engineers and architects, legal scholars, professional firefighters and police, and over half the members of groups supporting 9/11 victims’ families. To compare pro-government to counter-government evidence, consider this.

The objective evidence proves the US war against the people of Afghanistan is paper-thin propaganda of “self-defense” masking a psychopathic War of Aggression; but the world will continue to suffer from this and related vicious policies until the American people lead in understanding of verifiable evidence and law, thought, voice, and acts to force these unlawful policies to end.

Dennis Kucinich, addressing Congress with H. Con. Res 248:

There is a new way to fight war in Afghanistan. U.S. Commanders are publicly telling the Taliban when we are coming and where we are going to wage war. This, while Karzai tries to cut a deal with the Taliban!

Meanwhile a large offensive is being mounted--an assault on Kandahar. The U.S. is going to have 100,000 troops ready for a big battle by autumn and logistical problems abound. Here is a quote from the February 20th National Journal, "So, despite the immense effort to push out supplies, the front-line fighters sometimes don't even have the minimum they need. 'We had guys out there at outposts in my area of operations starving because we couldn't get resupply in to them,'" said one Major.

What is this all about? To strengthen corrupt central government officials building villas in Dubai? I am introducing a privileged resolution to get us out of Afghanistan and I urge your support!

Below is a 3-minute video of Mr. Kucinich addressing the American public on this crucial turning point in restoring our Constitution and national virtue. The following 6 paragraphs is the transcript:

Washington has a lot of money. It has trillions for war, but no money for housing. Money for war, but no money for health care. Money for war, but no money for education. Money for war - no money to rebuild our cities. No money to create jobs, but money for war.

The Democrats took control of the Congress in 2006 with a promise to end the War in Iraq and it's not enough for this Administration to slow-walk the end of the war, which could continue for years to come. And it's not enough for a Democratic Administration to escalate a war in Afghanistan at a time when there's no clear objective and no end in sight of the contribution of blood and treasure to a region which has never been conquered by any foreign country.

It's time that we take a stand as citizens. And it's also time to force Congress to take its Constitutional responsibility seriously. Article 1, Section 8 requires that Congress has the war-making power. It is absolutely imperative that Congress be required to assert its responsibility on behalf of the American people. Congress is directly elected by the people. And Congress has to respond and step up to its responsibility to decide if we're going to stay at war in Afghanistan. And so, soon, I will bring to the Floor of the House a Privileged Resolution which will force a vote as to whether or not we stay in Afghanistan.

I ask your support for this Resolution. I ask you to go to that page on our website where you can sign-in and pledge your support to the effort to get out of Afghanistan; and where you can circulate far-and-wide the petitions that will enable us to be able to build a rising, civic movement for peace and social justice in America.

Money for war: Isn't it time that we demanded that the resources of our country be used to create the society that we know that we're capable of building.

Thank you very much.

On the start of the 9th year of this unlawful war, I wrote this article summarizing my work to date on this topic that you might find helpful in your education and self-expression. Professional historians and political scientists have invested impressive research and writing to help humanity understand governments’ historical and current use of the “Big Lie” to propagandize their naïve and over-trusting public to tolerate psychopathic policies.

It’s time.

It’s time for our men and women in government and military to choose: either stand with the US Constitution you’ve sworn to support and defend against all enemies, foreign and DOMESTIC, or remain complicit in ongoing Wars of Aggression, mass murder of our soldiers and our fellow humans in other lands and throwing trillions of our tax dollars to do so, pushing the world ever-closer to an apparently planned and desired nuclear Third World War (and here), and guilty of what Dr. Martin Luther King called “Silence is Betrayal” before the US government assassinated him according to the only trial conducted for his murder.

It’s time for our men and women in the military and government to refuse all orders associated with our unlawful wars and preparation for unlawful war with Iran over one gram of medical isotope worth $75,000 in 20% enriched nuclear fuel. It is hard to imagine a more ridiculous case for war.

It’s time for our men and women in the military and government to refuse all orders associated with our unlawful wars and preparation for unlawful war with Iran and stand with the American public who declare in a ratio of 9 to 1 that our government no longer represents them under the US Constitution.

It’s time: exercise your 1st Amendment right to freedom of speech and press, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. Please provide this article to all Americans if you find it helpful to stop current and future unlawful wars.

Over 5,000 US soldiers have been killed so far as pawns of the civilian and military brass tyrants. Multiples more have been crippled physically and emotionally. There is no end in sight to current wars; indeed, the US is expanding them into Pakistan and Yemen and threatening more war with Iran. The dead are comforted by God; their families are devastated by the loss of their loved-ones. The crippled and their families face a range of challenges; many so severe that a total of 6,000 US veterans commit suicide every year. One-third of all US homeless men are veterans.

Our military was duped into these wars with calculated "Big Lies;" our trusting young men and women took an Oath to support and defend the US Constitution that supersedes the Nazi insert of “placing the mission first.” The Claus von Stauffenberg faction of US military and government must act to end this soulless mass-murdering; this loveless series of unlawful wars and unlawful orders, if we want a future we’re proud to build.

This choice is up to our men and women in uniform and government for leadership. I provide:

Explanation of the rules of lawful war omitted from their military training of what they can and cannot do after war begins.
Analogies that the rules of war are almost exactly like those for an individual’s use of force on the street.
Documentation of lies that were known to be lies as our political “leaders” told them and our war-whore corporate media mimicked to propagandize for war in Iraq.
Proof beyond doubt that the speech of Iranian President Ahmadinejad never threatened Israel.
Documentation that IAEA verifies all of Iran’s nuclear material and has only and always been used for legal and peaceful purposes.
A reminder that you love virtue, American values, and love of your fellow human beings.

And, our men and women in uniform must take action as they see best; as will our men and women in government and citizenry. As a teacher of government and law, I conclude our government leadership is guilty of treason against the American public, and guilty of mass murder against our soldiers.

Choose well; our collective future, and your future, depend upon it.

It's time: please share this article with all who can benefit. If you appreciate my work, please subscribe by clicking under the article title (it’s free). Please use my archive of work to help build a brighter future.

I appreciate your attention to these facts and encourage your further study and action consistent with your own self-expression. My recommendations:

Policy response: Gandhi and Martin Luther King advocated public understanding of the facts and non-cooperation with evil. I’m among hundreds who advocate:
1.Understand the laws of war (and here). These were legislated after WW2 and are crystal-clear that only self-defense, in a narrow legal meaning, can justify war. The current US wars are not even close to being lawful and are legal treason against the US. Those involved with US military, government, and law enforcement have an oath to protect and defend the US Constitution. To fulfill their oath they must immediately refuse all orders associated with unlawful wars and military-related constant violation of treaties, and arrest those who issue unlawful orders. The Oath of Enlistment to the US Constitution supersedes the fascist insertion of Nazi propaganda to "always place the mission first" of blindly following unlawful orders.
2.Employ the obvious and simple solutions to end our economic controlled demolition and evolve to a civil economy. End poverty through global cooperation to achieve the UN Millennium Goals by developed countries investing 0.7% of their income (not that the UN is serious for their accomplishment, but the goals are what we should invest to produce). Support global security through cooperation, dignity, justice, and freedom. Create a US Department of Peace to help.
3.Communicate. Trust your unique, beautiful, and powerful self-expression to share as you feel appropriate. Understand that while many people are ready to embrace difficult facts, many are not. Anticipate that you will be attacked and prepare your virtuous response in the spirit of competition, just as you do in other fields.
4.Prosecute the war leaders for obvious violation of the letter and spirit of US war laws and constant lies to engage in further wars. Because the crimes are so broad and deep, I recommend Truth and Reconciliation (T&R) to exchange full truth and return of stolen US assets for non-prosecution. This is the most expeditious way to understand and end all unlawful and harmful acts. Those who reject T&R are subject to prosecution.

Local perspective: Part of my professional duties as a teacher of economics and government is to produce competent adult citizenry. This includes realization that our nation’s policies and money are managed at a broad community level, and these issues have tremendous local impact. Of course, we all want human beings to be individually successful and enjoy their unique, beautiful and powerful self-expressions. Concurrently, we recognize our commitment to local success is strongly dependent upon the success of the community, and that government policy and economics are drivers.

Our status in early 21st Century human history is that we suffer from a long history in government and money of human interrelationship well-described as vicious antagonism. Governments frequently use war as a foreign policy, despite its illegality and dependent upon public ignorance, with horrific consequences. Economic policy is still created within a “Robber Baron” paradigm to concentrate money to an elite few families. Two examples:

1. National taxes effect you dearly, especially the tax to pay interest on the national debt. This costs the American public over $400 billion every year. This is $4,000 per year for every $50,000 of income. Do the math to understand your household’s tax burden for a monetary policy invented by banks for banks to create our money supply as debt. Your competence in this area contributes to our collective voice to simply shift monetary policy to easily pay the national debt, enjoy full employment, collectively save us over a trillion dollars every year, and finally realize what our brightest American minds have been advocating for centuries beginning with Benjamin Franklin. This would have unprecedented local benefits, and requires collective power to accomplish.

2. Ending poverty everywhere on our planet would cost just 0.7% of our income and save a million children’s lives every month. This human accomplishment will cause unimaginable joy at our local level.

To consider:

"If we are to have peace on earth, our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. Our loyalties must transcend our race, our tribe, our class, and our nation; and this means we must develop a world perspective. No individual can live alone, no nation can live alone and as long as we try, the more we are going to have war in the world. Now the judgment of God is upon us and we must either learn to live together as brothers or we are all going to perish together as fools."
--Inscription on Dr. Martin Luther King’s statue, Moorehouse College, Atlanta

"The day that hunger is eradicated from the earth, there will be the greatest spiritual explosion the world has ever known. Humanity cannot imagine the joy that will burst into the world on the day of that great revolution." -- poet Federico García Lorca

Comments policy: I welcome questions and comments that are civil and pertain to the article topic. Impolite and impertinent comments will be deleted.

Please consider that I’m among hundreds of writers who have documented our own government’s disclosure of propaganda programs to support their wars. I suspect my articles are under such propagandistic attack from comments that use typical rhetorical fallacies to distract readers from the facts. I invite readers to sharpen their ability to discern such propaganda. They are characterized by a combination of: never addressing the facts, diverting attention through unsubstantiated belief in an alleged expert, irrelevant data, straw-man attack that distorts the facts, ad hominem attack of insults to the messenger, vile comments to repulse readers, and lies of omission and commission.

I will use such comments to point-out the propaganda or delete them at my discretion. Again, all relevant and polite questions, and factually accurate comments are welcome. As a professional educator I’m in agreement with my experience and research: we learn best from multiple perspectives in mutual commitment to understand the facts, see those facts from diverse points-of-view, and consider various policy proposals of what we should do.

For those involved in support of US government-sponsored disinformation, I invite you to consider the quality of human relationships you wish to work toward. National security and a brighter future is not a function of fear, manipulation, and control. Our best security follows cooperation, justice under the law, dignity, and freedom. Working for your best imagined self-expression of virtue may include a unique contribution from the inside of your agency. Public attraction to the stories of Star Wars and the Harry Potter books/movies recognize that our society’s jump to civilized relations for all of us might require support from people within the “dark side” acting as covert agents for building a brighter future. Another option is becoming a whistle-blower; Project Camelot is a popular venue for people in sensitive positions. Ultimately, I recommend a Truth and Reconciliation process to exchange full truth for no prosecution, explained in detail at the link. Please consider the wisdom of your own “Scrooge conversion” to act for the benefit of all humanity rather than your self-proclaimed controlling, manipulating, and loveless “masters.”

“Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did not die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world. Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; for he was wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter in the outset; and knowing that such as these would be blind anyway, he thought it quite as well that they should wrinkle up their eyes in grins, as have the malady in less attractive forms. His own heart laughed: and that was quite enough for him.”