DOVER , N.H., Aug. 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Ohio Congressman and Democratic Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich delivered a blistering attack on the Bush Administration today, charging that the White House is setting the stage for a war in Iran and, at the same time, using the "same mantra of terrorism to justify using military spy satellites and other high- tech military assets to put every citizen in our country under surveillance."
"Not only are they ramping up their attempts to lie and deceive this nation into another war, they are also using those lies and deceptions to justify creating a police state right here where everyone is under suspicion and everyone is secretly under surveillance from Big Brother in the sky," Kucinich charged.
Kucinich was responding to two separate reports since yesterday: one that the Bush Administration is planning to designate Iran's Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization, and the other that The Bush administration has approved a plan to expand domestic surveillance using spy satellites and aircraft sensors that can see through cloud cover and even penetrate buildings and underground bunkers. This kind of technology has been largely restricted to foreign surveillance.
By labeling the Revolutionary Guard -- Iran's military -- as a terrorist organization, the Administration "is trying to deceive the American public into believing that it is in our national interest to prepare for war with Iran ," Kucinich said.
"At the same time, they are, in effect, repealing the Constitution of the United States of America by turning military and foreign intelligence assets against our own citizens."
"These are people," Kucinich said, "who don't understand what civil liberties are, what the Constitution represents, or what democracy is all about. What they are doing is despicably un-American and a violation of their oath to uphold and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America. Turning our own military assets against our own people is a flagrant violation of everything this nation stands for and a crime against our citizens."
According to published reports, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Homeland Security has approved the domestic use of data obtained from satellite and aircraft sensors that can see through cloud cover and even penetrate buildings and underground bunkers.
"The Patriot Act itself, which I voted against, has already shredded sections of the Constitution and abridged Americans' civil liberties with illegal search and seizure, warrantless wiretaps, and other rights' violations without judicial or legislative oversight," Kucinich said. "Now, with this new domestic spying plan, every American can be under surveillance for any reason at any time of the day or night."
He also argued that a federal law, the Posse Comitatus Act, bars the military from engaging in law-enforcement activity inside the U.S. The satellites and other high-tech assets were predominantly built for and owned by the Defense Department.
Meanwhile, Kucinich, the only Presidential candidate who voted against the original Iraq war authorization measure in 2002, said the "terrorist" designation for the Revolutionary Guard "is nothing more than an attempt to deceive Americans into yet another war -- this time with Iran ." He continued, "The Bush Administration is using this designation to convince the American public into accepting that a war with Iran is inevitable." He said the move "will set the stage for more chaos in the region because it undercuts all of our diplomatic efforts and provides further evidence to Iran's leaders that the Bush Administration is rattling the saber for regime change."
SOURCE Kucinich for President 2008
