Friday, July 8, 2005
Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, mclarty@greens.org
Nancy Allen, Media Coordinator, 207-326-4576, nallen@prexar.com
The July 7 bombings were consistent with
warnings that the invasion of Iraq would fuel anti-West anger and make
the world less secure from terrorism.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Green Party leaders condemned
the July 7 attacks on the London transit system, and expressed
sympathy for the families of the murdered, for the hundreds of people
injured, and for all those shaken by the bombings.
"We deplore all violence -- even more so when directed against
civilians," said Jody Grage Haug, co-chair of the Green Party of
the United States and a member of the Green Party's Peace Action
Committee.
"Greens reject the use of violence for
political ends. Green Party members who live in the New York City and
Washington, D.C. metropolitan areas who acutely remember the pain of
9/11 know the terrible sense of sadness, loss, and disruption that the
British people feel right now. All Greens share the same sense of
tragedy, outrage, and compassion for the victims and their loved
ones."
Greens called Thursday's attacks consistent with
predictions -- from CIA analysts as well as opponents of the war --
that the U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and especially Iraq, which had
no connection with 9/11 and virtually no al-Qaeda presence before
2003, would lead to further terrorism.
"The invasion of Iraq didn't impede
terrorism. On the contrary, it fueled resentment in the Muslim world
against western nations, increased support for fundamentalist Islamic
leaders who seek to turn their nations into repressive theocracies,
converted Iraq into a training ground for groups like al-Qaeda, and
distracted from the need to bring Osama bin Laden and the kind of
thugs who struck in London to justice," said Peggy Lewis,
co-chair of the Green Party of the United States. "Mr. Bush and
Mr. Blair have made the world less, not more, secure from
terrorism."
Greens drew a connection between the civilians
killed in attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Bali,
Madrid, and now London and the civilians killed in the U.S. invasion
and occupation of Iraq -- tens of thousands who were supposed to be
liberated, but were instead killed by American bombs and bullets.
"Let us not forget that what Londoners
experienced on Thursday morning is being experienced by Iraqi citizens
on a daily basis," said Joe Lombardo, New York Green, member of
the Green Peace Action Committee, and co-founder of Bethlehem
Neighbors for Peace. "It's time to end the military occupation of
Iraq, not because we're intimidated by threats from violent religious
militants, but because the invasion of Iraq was wrong and was based on
oil, empire, and Bush and Blair administration deception. The murder
of innocents always deserves our revulsion and condemnation."
MORE INFORMATION
Green Party of the United States
http://www.gp.org
1711 18th Street NW
Washington, DC 20009.
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193
Green Party Peace Action Committee
http://www.gp.org/committees/peace