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The Green Party of the United States
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MARCH 18, 2003
4:10 PM
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CONTACT:
The
Green Party of the United States
Nancy Allen, 207-326-4576,
Email: nallen@acadia.net
Scott McLarty, 202-518-5624,
Email: scottmclarty@yahoo.com
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Greens Call on Congress and Americans to Resist
Buch's War Declaration
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| WASHINGTON
- March 18 - Members of the Green Party of the United States stepped
up their opposition to the ultimatum issued to Iraq by President
Bush on Sunday after his summit with British Prime Minister Tony
Blair, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, and Portuguese
Prime Minister Jose Durao Barroso.
President Bush
declared Monday, March 17 as the day Iraq must completely disarm
or face an invasion, and a U.N. endorsement of a U.S. military
attack is no longer expected. Greens, noting that invasion may
begin within the week, will participate in protests and nonviolent
direct action the day after attacks are launched, in events being
planned by United for Peace and Justice, the National Youth and
Student Peace Coalition, the "Bush is Taking the Shirts Off Our
Backs to Pay for this War" Coalition, and other groups.
Many Greens
are challenging Democratic officeholders who oppose the war, especially
presidential candidates, to participate in civil disobedience.
"Let Democrats take the kind of stand Rep. Ron Dellums [D.-Calif.]
took when he was arrested for protesting apartheid in South Africa,"
said Connecticut Green Tom Sevigny, chair of the party's national
Bylaws Committee.
"Preemptive
invasion explicitly violates international law, the Geneva Convention,
the U.N. charter, the Monroe Doctrine of military action as a
defensive last resort, and the U.S. Constitution's restriction
of the use of U.S. armed forces to the defense of our borders.
Green leaders have already risked arrest and been arrested. It's
time for antiwar Democrats like Dennis Kucinich, Carol Moseley-Braun,
and Howard Dean to show moral leadership -- as [Senior Cabinet
Minister] Robin Cook has shown today in Britain."
Greens are
urging all Americans who oppose the war to increase their phone
calls, letters, faxes, e-mails, and visits to Congressmembers,
and to continue the show of support for the peoples and governments
of other U.N. nations that oppose the war. Green Parties in many
European countries, especially Germany, Belgium, France, Finland,
and New Zealand, have played a major role in rallying citizens
and influencing their respective governments not to give the invasion
the facade of legitimacy through support in the U.N.
"With Congress
riding shotgun, Bush is driving America on a collision course
with the global community," said Ben Manski, Green Party Co-Chair.
"Invasion of Iraq will make our nation responsible for the administration
of government in that country for years to come, and will commit
America to a new period of military adventurism in global politics.
Such a course is not sustainable, not just, and fundamentally
contrary to the interest of the American people."
While President
Bush claims that the issue is Saddam's weapons of mass destruction,
the Wall Street Journal reported on January 16 that Bush has been
meeting with oil companies to plan who will profit from the occupation
of Iraq.
CBS.MarketWatch.com
(January 31) and CNN (March 2) have reported that oil companies
expect a windfall from the invasion. This good news for oil companies
is bad news for the U.S. economy, which will be damaged by the
costs of the invasion and occupation. U.S. citizens will suffer
as social services are cut drastically.
"Bush's intention
all along was an invasion, which is why neither the U.N. inspections
nor Saddam's compliance and destruction of weapons were ever satisfactory,
and U.N. support is a disposable formality," said Carl Romanelli
of the Pennsylvania Green Party. "At no point did Bush ever allow
the possibility of containment under an internationally cooperative
plan. Even if Iraq falls quickly, it will bring neither peace
nor security, and we'll see terrorist retaliation against American
civilians and military personnel. Furthermore, the White House
has made it clear that it wants to topple other governments, beginning
with Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Syria."
While the Bush
Administration has raised the subject of war crimes trials for
Iraqi leaders, U.S. officials may face charges if they carry out
the threat to drop 800 cruise missiles on Iraq in the first 48
hours of the war. The U.N. predicts a humanitarian disaster, with
up to a half million civilian Iraqi deaths and injuries during
the early stages of the war.
"Greens will
maintain their opposition to the war after the invasion begins,"
said Mark Dunlea, chair of the Green Party of New York State.
"If we really care about the lives of American soldiers, we'll
continue to demand that their lives not be placed at risk for
the sake of control over Iraqi oil and political dominance over
the region. The Bush Administration has built its case for this
war on deception -- on lies about Iraqi weapons capability, about
connections between Saddam and al-Qaeda, about our real objectives
in the Middle East. The greatest lie is that opposing the war
is unpatriotic. We call on all people who value American ideals
of democracy, nonviolence, and human rights to support our troops
-- and demand they be sent home!"
###
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