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Green Party of the United States
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
APRIL 8, 2003
1:10 PM
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CONTACT:
Green
Party of the United States
Nancy Allen, 207-326-4576, nallen@acadia.net Scott
McLarty, 202-518-5624, scottmclarty@yahoo.com
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Pentagon Policy Makes Iraqi Civilian Lives
Expendable in Their Own Liberation, Say Greens;
Green Party Antiwar Activists Call Bush Complicit
in the Murder of Civilians
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| WASHINGTON
- April 8 - "The Pentagon's invasion strategy is resulting in
numerous and unconscionable casualties among Iraqi civilians,"
said Ben Manski, Wisconsin Green and co-chair of the Green Party
of the United States. "These deaths reveal that the real goal
of the U.S. and U.K. is the invasion and occupation of Iraq, not
liberation."
On Saturday,
American forces in tanks barreled through a residential section
of Baghdad, mowing down and shooting at anyone in the way. According
to The New York Times, soldiers described it as a "blistering
gauntlet of death and destruction that... engulfed civilians as
well as Iraqi fighters."
"It is reprehensible
to kill and maim civilians as part of a military operation," said
Beth Moore Haines, spokesperson for the Green Party of California.
"We hold President Bush directly responsible and morally accountable
for these deaths."
After the Al
Sha'ab market bombing on March 26, Pentagon spokesperson Torie
Clarke claimed that the civilian deaths were "a direct result
of Saddam Hussein's policies." The Pentagon has refused to confirm
or deny whether U.S. forces were responsible. In subsequent briefings,
including one after the An Najaf checkpoint shooting of 11 people
by U.S. forces, Clarke continued to blame "the climate established
by the Iraqi regime" for killings of civilians by U.S. forces.
The Pentagon has refused to keep a tally of civilian dead.
Major U.S.
news media outlets have deemphasized Iraqi casualties. The Iraq
Body Count Project, tabulating deaths from various reputable sources,
has verified over 898 civilians, including 22 killed last weekend
in Baghdad, killed in the conflict in comparison with 106 U.S.
and British soldiers reported killed as of Saturday, April 5.
Tens of thousands of Iraqi soldiers have probably died.
"Unlike volunteer
soldiers, adults who choose their profession with the knowledge
they may someday be sent to fight and die, civilians can be cut
down at any moment -- walking to the market, sleeping in their
home, or fleeing the city," said Starlene Rankin, national delegate
for the Lavender Green Caucus. "It is our special task in wartime
to protect innocent people. The Pentagon is responsible for every
death caused by its bullets and bombs."
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