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End the Occupation and Bring U.S. Troops Home. |
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Friday, January 2, 2004 Contacts: NEW YEARS PLEA FROM GREENS Greens charge pillage and profiteering in Iraq by U.S. corporations, with Bush's aid -- and a Commerce Dept. web site for profiteers. WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Green Party began the New Year with a renewed call for the U.S. to end the occupation of Iraq, the rapid withdrawal of U.S. troops, and transference of authority over humanitarian relief, reconstruction, and establishment of democracy in Iraq to the United Nations. "The Bush Administration's treatment of Iraq and the Iraqi people is more consistent with conquest than with liberation," said Starlene Rankin, California Green and Lavender Green Caucus delegate to the Green Party of the United States. "President Bush's notion of democracy has little to do with the power of people to govern their own affairs; instead, it means opening up resources, businesses, and markets to corporate ownership, especially by U.S. firms." The U.S. Department of Commerce has set up a web site for U.S. businesses that wish to profit from contracts for rebuilding Iraq, at <http://www.export.gov/iraq/>. Greens note that the takeover of Iraq's essential services and industries by foreign corporations, under occupation rules that enable 100% foreign ownership of Iraqi banks, mines, and factories and allow these firms to move 100% of their profits out of Iraq, violates the Hague regulations of 1907 (signed by the U.S.) and the U.S. Army's code of war. "There's a word for allowing foreign companies to take over and profit from Iraqi resources and business. The word is pillage," said J. Roy Cannon, chair of the Peace Committee of the Green Party of Delaware. "Halliburton's $61 million overcharges for shipping refined petroleum products into Iraq under a no-bid contract is the tip of the iceberg. It's not enough to cancel Halliburton's contract. We need to see an independent investigation of war profiteering and pillage in the wake of the U.S. invasion." "There are several steps we can take to rein in the war profiteers and pillagers," added Cannon. "The U.S. must end contracts without competitive bidding, and deny government contracts to corporations with a history of corporate crime, tax dodging, and off-shore accounts. And we need to help Iraq get back on its own economic feet by awarding reconstruction contracts to Iraqi businesses." Greens observed that President Bush's democracy-building attempt in Afghanistan, after the 2001 invasion in retaliation for 9/11, has failed, with U.S. troops still present, daily violence, warlords in charge of most of the country, revival of the opium trade, and widespread nostalgia for the Taliban. Greens, in urging the quick return of U.S. troops, cited recent news of high suicide rates among military personnel in Iraq, the Pentagon's refusal to allow American soldiers to leave the armed services after their original contracts expire, the growing number of troops killed and injured, reports that U.S. troops have been ordered to kill unarmed Iraqi demonstrators, and increasing Iraqi resentment and frustration over the occupation. The Green Party of the United States, which opposed the invasion of Iraq from the beginning, endorsed a 'Uniting For Peace' resolution in May, 2003 and a resolution in July calling for all U.S. troops to be returned stateside by the winter holidays. "Is Saddam Hussein's removal from power and capture a good thing? Absolutely," said Greg Gerritt, Rhode Island Green and secretary of the national party. "But there are other questions, too. Is the world better off with a lone superpower that declares for itself the right to invade other nations? Are we better off with the U.N. Charter, Nuremburg principles, and U.S. Constitution in tatters? Can we justify a war based on deceit and cooked intelligence about Iraq's 'imminent threat' to the U.S. and collusion with al-Qaeda? When Saddam goes to trial, will Donald Rumsfeld and all those U.S. companies that provided Saddam with the weapons for his atrocities be indicted too?" MORE INFORMATION "Army's Suicide Rate has Outside Experts
Alarmed" "Pentagon Stops Troops From Signing Off" "'Staggering': Medical Evacuations from Iraq
Near 11,000" Uniting For Peace Coalition search: pce, gbl, dpol, fpol, irq |