Pacific Green Party Joins Voters for Peace

Pacific Green Party (Oregon) 
www.pacificgreens.org

August 08, 2006

Contacts: Joanne Cvar, PGP Coordinating and Media Committees, 541-563-3615
Chris Henry, PGP Co-Chair and Media Coordinator, 503.757.2324

Pacific Green Party joins Voters for Peace

"I will not vote for or support any candidate for Congress or President who does not make a speedy end to the war in Iraq, and preventing any future war of aggression, a public position in his or her campaign."

OREGON -- The Pacific Green Party of Oregon (PGP) recently joined the Green Party of the United States in endorsing the Voters for Peace pledge, available at http://www.votersforpeace.us/index.jsp. The pledge is part of a national effort to organize anti-war voters, now a majority in the polls, as a bloc with the power to determine the outcome of elections. 

Voters who believe that withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq should begin immediately and conclude as quickly as logistically possible should sign the petition available on the Voters for Peace website and help circulate pledge signature sheets to illustrate to public representatives the depth of anti-war feeling amongst their constituents. The pledge is a commitment to vote only for candidates who will work to end the Iraqi war of occupation and commit to prevention of future unnecessary wars of aggression. 

Paul Aranas, PGP candidate for U.S. House District Five, says he has opposed the Iraq war from the start and pledges to continue to speak out against U.S. troops occupying foreign soil until the last soldier has come home. “Our military men and women, especially the National Guard, should be stationed at home, protecting our country as well as helping victims of natural disasters,” he says. Joe Keating, PGP gubernatorial candidate, agrees that the Oregon National Guard should rebuild state infrastructure and prepare for local emergencies at home. Keating pledges that “as governor, I will refuse to deploy any members of the Oregon National Guard to Iraq or Iran.” 

According to the latest Department of Defense statistics, almost 2,600 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq, 41 of them from Oregon, and another 18,777 have been wounded and/or maimed since the invasion began. A well-researched report in The Lancet Medical Journal estimates that since March 2003, some 250,000 Iraqis have died in addition to deaths normally expected. Greens think it’s time to stop the bleeding. 

As of this writing, the National Priorities Report puts the escalating monetary cost of the war to U.S. taxpayers at $301,449,508,000, based on congressional appropriations. Oregon’s share of this cost is estimated at $2,456, 912,700, funding that would go a long way to providing for education, social services, and infrastructure priorities. 

“Few issues are as detrimental to our survival as a species than the question of war and peace,” says Chris Henry, PGP co-chair. “If the Pacific Green Party stands for any issue, we stand for peace.”