[Iowa-dx] GP RELEASE Greens: Bush, Congress risk global stability with Mideast policies

Tue, 19 Dec 2006 14:08:50 -0600

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624,
mclarty@greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805,
starlene@greens.org

Greens: Bush and Congress are risking global
stability with current Middle East policies

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Green Party leaders said
today that the Bush Administration, with
bipartisan support in Congress, is pursuing
military strategies, especially in the Middle
East, that increasingly threaten global
stability.

U.S. policies on Israel and Palestine, Iraq, and
Iran are leading to greater regional instability,
and are inciting internal conflicts and rage
against the U.S., say Greens.  Party leaders
compare reckless attempts to assert U.S.
dominance in the region and control over oil
resources to the belligerent actions and
breakdown of international law that led to the
first and second world wars.

? Greens warned that the Bush Administration is
unlikely to reverse its catastrophic Iraq policy
in the next two years, and called for a more
concerted political opposition to Republicans and
Democrats who support continued occupation.

"It was unlikely that the Iraq Study Group would
recommend anything more than a vague, delayed,
and partial exit from Iraq," said Liz Arnone,
co-chair of the Green Party of the United States.
  "Co-chair James Baker can hardly be called
impartial, given his current job as senior
partner at Baker Botts law firm, where he is
senior counsel to the Carlyle Group and whose
other clients include Saudi Arabia and
Exxon-Mobil.  The Group's most significant
recommendations are for the long-term presence of
70,000 or more U.S. troops in Iraq and for the
privatization of Iraqi oil by global
corporations."

Green Party leaders noted that Greens -- not
Democratic or Republican politicians -- now
represent the sentiments of the majority of the
American people, who have indicated in poll after
poll that they favor quick withdrawal of U.S.
troops from Iraq.  Even more importantly, say
Greens, the Iraqi people know that the U.S.
occupation has caused and prolonged the
destabilization of their country and want the
U.S. out right now.

"The Iraq invasion was a calculated and illegal
act of aggression that was sold to the American
public with a list of lies," said Tony Gronowicz,
who ran for Mayor of New York City in 2005 and
currently serves on the Green Party's
International Committee.  "After nearly 3,000
dead U.S. servicemembers, hundreds of thousands
of Iraqi civilian deaths, and a growing civil
war, there is no justification for maintaining
the occupation.  The Green Party calls for a
cutoff of congressional funding for the war,
immediate withdrawal, and impeachment and
criminal charges for the architects of the Iraq
War, beginning with President Bush and Vice
President Cheney.  Anything less would be an
admission that U.S. and international law no
longer have any force."

? Greens expressed dismay at a bill passed by the
U.S. House last week prohibiting the U.S.
government from giving any humanitarian aid or
holding official talks with the Hamas-led
Palestinian government.

Greens stressed that the Israel-Palestine
conflict remains one of the main causes of
continuing unrest in the Middle East, and were
hopeful about the U.N.'s Alliance of
Civilizations initiative aimed at resolving the
rift between the West and the Muslim world.

"The 'Palestinian Anti-Terror Act of 2006' will
obstruct sorely needed peace talks, and will do
nothing to alleviate the Middle East conflict and
will not provide peace and security for Israelis
and Palestinians," said Katey Culver, co-chair of
the Green Party of the United States.  "As a
blanket condemnation of a democratically elected
government, the bill reinforces Arab accusations
that the U.S. is a dishonest broker.  The U.S.'s
uncritical support for Israel's actions -- with
American taxpayers' dollars -- tells the world
that the U.S. has no regard for the lives or
basic human rights of Arabs and Muslims."

Greens have condemned all violence leveled at
unarmed Israeli and Palestinian civilians, and
support the efforts of the many Israeli and
Palestinian peace activists who are working for
negotiation and a peaceful resolution.  The Green
Party has urged an economic boycott of Israel,
and has in particular called for a cutoff of
military aid until Israel ends its occupation of
Palestinian territories and mass death and
destruction visited on the Palestinian people,
and ensures full human rights and equality for
all citizens within its own borders, regardless
of religion or ethnicity.

? Greens condemned a proposed $150 billion plan
to rebuild the existing nuclear weapons complex
and to build a new line of nuclear weapons under
the Reliable Replacement Warhead program.

"The Department of Energy's plan brings the world
closer to the use of a nuclear weapon on a
civilian population as an act of war," said
Rebecca Rotzler, co-chair of the Green Party of
the United States and Deputy Mayor of New Paltz,
New York.  "It's an invitation for other nations
to initiate or expand their own nuclear arsenals,
and especially hypocritical given the Bush
Administration's threats leveled against Iran.
Equally troubling is that the administration has
not ruled out the use of such weapons by the
U.S."

See also: "US Warships Nearing Iran May Ignite
Global War, Warn Greens"
Green Party press release, September 27, 2006,
http://www.gp.org/press/pr_2006_09_27.shtml

MORE INFORMATION

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Washington, DC 20009.
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results http://www.greens.org/elections
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sites http://www.gp.org/2006elections
Video clips of Green candidates
http://www.gp.org/2006elections/media.shtml
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