Bush, Congress Threaten Global Stability With Middle East Policies

Green Party of the United States
www.gp.org

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.

o 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 


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