Cynthia
McKinney: Live in Brooklyn
Courtesy GNN (Let the Quicktime video load then press
play)
Speaking out against
the Iraq war, forced Anthrax vaccines for troops and the corruption of Dyncorp
and the Pentagon.
On a hot night in the
late summer of 2003, a small but well-known church in Brooklyn is packed
to the rafters with people of all colors, religions and political affiliations.
Despite their obvious cultural and social differences, tonight they are
gathered together, as people have in places of worship all throughout history,
to find comfort and courage in a time of strife
The event, organized
by International ANSWER, is billed as a kick-off for a national campaign
to 'Bring The Troops Home Now!', which will culminate in a Mass March on
Washington on October 25. Scheduled to speak are some of the more articulate
and passionate voices in the anti-war movement on the East Coast, including
civil rights attorney Ron Kuby, labor leader Brenda Stokely, and long time
human rights leader (and minister of the House of the Lord Church) Rev.
Herbert Daughtry.
But everyone knows who the real draw is - a woman up from Atlanta who understands
more than anyone the price that is to be paid when elected officials speak
out against the vastly entrenched, politically enfranchised military industrial
complex. This crowd have come to see the former Democratic Congresswoman
from Georgia, Cynthia McKinney.
McKinney is best known
for being one of the first, if not the first, national elected official
to openly question the Bush Administration's handling of 9/11, as well as
the troubling links between elements in the President's inner circle (including
his father) and Saudi Arabia - a country increasingly implicated as a major
funder of anti-American terror. For her efforts, McKinney was labeled a
"conspiracy nut" and "unpatriotic." After brutal misrepresentation
and ridicule by the mainstream press, and a massive financial and organizational
effort on the part of the GOP, McKinney paid the ultimate political price:
she was defeated in the August 2002 Democratic primary.
Ironically, a year later, the very same issues she raised are beginning
to be brought to the fore thanks to mainstream journalists like "The
Iron Triangle" author Dan Briody, ex-CIA operative Robert Baer, presidential
hopeful Sen. Bob Graham - even economic gurus like Jeffrey Sachs.
Proving the eternality
of that adage about things that do not kill you..., Cynthia McKinney wears
the proud face of a vigilant crusader and speaks in the voice of a fearless
servant of the public interest.
When she rises to speak, the crowd lifts to their feet and cheers. And they
are not to be disappointed. Covering a spectrum of controversial issues
- from Dyncorp's involvement in military smallpox vaccines to a Halliburton
subsidary's (no-bid) contract to supply food and other support to the troops
in Iraq - McKinney drops more knowledge in her ten-minute speech than Fox
News Channel does in an entire news cycle. Her passionate appeal on behalf
of U.S. troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan demonstrates the nature
of true patriotism and respect for those who have pledged to defend the
United States.
