Dennis Kucinich: “Taking back my time, Mr. Speaker, you see, we have a right as a Nation to defend ourselves, but we do not have any right…”

“Taking back my time, Mr. Speaker, you see, we have a right as a Nation to defend ourselves, but we do not have any right to shred the Constitution or to nullify the role that Congress has as a coequal branch of government or to nullify the right we have to give motions to instruct. We have an absolute right to do that. Now, this all goes back to 9/11, where all the fear has been created; and we have people now more concerned about leaks and more concerned about open discussion exposing secret prisons than they are in exposing those prisons. People want to deny congressional oversight and deny the power of coequality. I mean, the facts are that there is a real body of evidence suggesting that secret prisons do exist; that there has been rendition; that people have been basically taken off the streets, moved to countries that use torture, and violations of human rights. I mean, what is happening to our country? Let us look at our Constitution. We have habeas corpus, people have a right to be told what crime they have committed, they have a right to an attorney and to a fair and speedy trial. Now, why do we have those things? Because in America we stand for something. So we are, in effect, permitting the shredding of our Constitution. The violation of international law. What has become of our Nation when we do not challenge that or at least have the opportunity to support Mr.…”