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The Second Half Hour
Williams: Congressman Kucinich, same question.
Kucinich: With all due respect to our friends from the media here, the media itself has to be careful how you frame these questions. We don't want to be put in a position where we are taking this country to the threshold of war. The media did play a role in taking us into war in Iraq. And I'm urging members of the media -- urge restraint upon you and our president, whose rhetoric is out of control.
I would go to Iran and I would urge Iran not just to not have nuclear weapons. I would urge then to give up nuclear power because nuclear power is the most expensive type of power there is. It is not a sustainable type of power because of the costs of it. It is unsafe. I would urge Iran to give up nuclear power.
But I would also do something further. It is time that the United States government enforced and participated in fully the Non- Proliferation Treaty, which calls for the abolition of all nuclear weapons.
We must lead the way, and we must have a president who understands the danger of these nuclear weapons and have America lead the way among all nations towards nuclear abolition.
When we do that, we will have the credibility to go to an Iran and any other nation that may have desires for nuclear power to say, "Look, we want to take it in another direction."
We are not going to stand by and watch our country lost because we are ratcheting up the rhetoric toward war against Iran.
We have to stop this, Tim. We have to stop ratcheting up the rhetoric for war. We really need to stop it.
Bam! Take that Brian and Tim! Dennis Kucinich just told you that you are doing your job poorly and need to step it up. And I agree. The media cannot be complicit like they were in the run up to the Iraq war. They must not be allowed to go along with the Bush administration’s, as you so aptly put it, “ratcheting up” of “the rhetoric” for war with Iran.
And thank you Dennis for seeing the big picture and fighting the questions which are framed to look at one single small area of foreign policy. By taking it to the idea of abolition of all nuclear weapons and participating in and enforcing the Non-Proliferation Treaty, you basically hone in on the reason why we are having the problems we have today: Countries see no reason to disarm so long as we are armed with nuclear weapons.
Russert: Senator Clinton, elsewhere in the region, let's talk about Iraq. One of your military advisers, retired Lieutenant General Claudia Kennedy, while campaigning for you in New Hampshire, was recently quoted saying, quote, "I don't oppose the war. I have never heard Senator Clinton say 'I oppose the war.'"
Senator Clinton, do you oppose the war in Iraq?
Clinton: Absolutely.
Sorry, what was that?
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