November 23, 2002:

Coretta Scott King argues against war on Iraq

San Francisco-AP -- Coretta Scott King is speaking out against the possibility of a war on Iraq.

She says an attack on Saddam Hussein would increase anti-American sentiment, create more terrorists and drain as much as 200 billion taxpayer dollars that she says should be invested in America.

The civil rights leader and widow of Martin Luther King Junior says homeland security ought to be "more about providing health care for every citizen, and less about reshuffling bureaucratic agencies and undermining our civil liberties."...

So if the Reverend Joseph Lowery wants to talk about Iraq at Mrs. King's funeral --

We know now there were no weapons of mass destruction over there. [Standing Ovation] But Coretta knew and we know that there are weapons of misdirection right down here. Millions without health insurance. Poverty abounds. For war billions more but no more for the poor.

-- he doesn't need the permission of Matt Drudge, Michelle Malkin, Kate O'Beirne, or any of the other spiritual descendants of the people who attacked the civil rights movement in its heyday, thank you very much.

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UPDATE: Via Julia, here's the text of Coretta Scott King's speech -- and note, by the way, that she was being honored by the Metropolitan Community Foundation:

MCF staff and volunteers work on the frontlines to provide food, community, advocacy, dignity and compassion to those who are poor, homeless, hungry, discriminated against, or otherwise marginalized, regardless of sexual orientation.... MCF brings the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) communities together around major social, political, and spiritual issues affecting all of us, and through MCF, the LGBT communities reach out to help others.