Dennis Kucinich: “so what is the state of our Union? It is war. It is neglect of an overt agenda. The President will come to our country…”

“so what is the state of our Union? It is war. It is neglect of an overt agenda. The President will come to our country tonight, and he will give us more war, 21,500 troops sent to escalate the war in Iraq, a war that has cost the lives of 650,000 innocent Iraqi civilians. We need our President to realize that it is time to take a new direction, and that direction is out of Iraq. It is time to end the occupation, to withdraw our troops, to close the bases. It is time for us to work with the international community in an overall peace plan, which I presented to this Congress. The Kucinich plan calls for not only ending the occupation, withdrawing troops, closing the bases, but also an international peace plan that enables the Iraqi people to have the security they need through reconciliations, through reparations, and through paying for reconstruction. The United States must lead the way with the international community in a plan for peace. The President must take a new direction.”