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Greens Mark 9/11 Anniversary With Renewed Call for Justice. |
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September 11, 2004 GREENS MARK 9/11 ANNIVERSARY WITH A RENEWED CALL FOR JUSTICE The Bush Administration has exploited 9/11 as a meal ticket, charge Greens; Green Party calls for an independent investigation led by 9/11 victims' families. WASHINGTON -- Green Party members commemorated the third anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks with a renewed call to restore justice as the goal for 9/11 victims and for a wounded nation. "The Bush Administration portrayed the 9/11 attacks not as an atrocity committed by a small extremist movement, which it really was, but as an episode in a global conflict between 'axis of evil' nations -- Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, North Korea, etc. -- and the forces of democracy, as represented by the U.S. leading western nations," said Adam Eidinger, D.C. Statehood Green Party candidate for 'Shadow' U.S. Representative <http://www.adam4shadow.com/>. "Bush maintains that the attack was motivated by hatred of our precious freedoms. In fact, Osama bin Laden made it clear all along that his grievance was primarily the U.S. military presence in Saudi Arabia, and secondarily by the U.S.'s role in the Israel-Palestine conflict, the sanctions against Iraq, and other policies he regarded as injurious to Muslims." Greens joined the call for international unity in tracking down the criminals responsible for the attacks. President Bush instead squandered international good will towards the U.S. after 9/11, and used the attacks to justify its prior intention to invade Iraq, seize control of Iraqi resources (especially oil and water), and exercise its radical doctrine of 'full spectrum dominance.' 'The new Pearl Harbor' as an excuse for global empire The ideology of military full spectrum dominance has been promoted during the past decade by the 'Project for a New American Century', whose members have included Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, and other senior Bush staff: "[The new world order] must have a secure foundation on unquestioned U.S. military preeminence.... The process of transformation is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event -- like a new Pearl Harbor." -- "Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategy, Forces and Resources For a New Century. A Report of The Project for the New American Century" (September 2000). "The outcome of Bush's exploitation of 9/11 as 'a new Pearl Harbor' is more than 1,000 American troops killed in Iraq, untold thousands of Iraqi civilian deaths, an uncertain and probably undemocratic future for Iraq, reversion of most of Afghanistan to control by opium-producing warlords, failure to bring bin Laden and his cohorts to justice, erosion of civil liberties in the U.S., and lack of security for the citizens of the U.S. and other western countries because of increasing animosity against us," said Paul Richmond, Green candidate for Attorney General in Washington <http://www.richmond4ag.com>. Greens also accused the Bush Administration of using 9/11 as a meal ticket, citing Vice President Cheney's warning that terrorists are likely to attack again if Bush isn't reelected and FDA Acting Commissioner Lester Crawford's fabricated claim that Al Qaeda may try to kill Americans by contaminating imported prescription drugs. Demand for a new, independent 9/11 investigation "We need to reconsider and reverse policies that have motivated hostility against the U.S.," said Tony Palmeri, Green candidate for the Wisconsin State Assembly (54th District) <http://www.tonypalmeri.com>. "We must end the occupation of Iraq, reaffirm our commitment to international law, and end our dependence on the world's fossil fuel resources. The first step in restoring sanity and security would be a new, independent probe into the 9/11 attacks, with full subpoena power, with members of 9/11 victims' families among the leadership of the investigation." Many New York Greens, in light of Congress's refusal to push for an adequate probe, have called for the Manhattan District Attorney to initiate a criminal investigation into the World Trade Center deaths. "Many of the most important questions about 9/11 have remained unanswered, because of reluctance and obstruction by the Bush Administration and by both parties in Congress," said Mark Dunlea of the Green Party of New York State. "We shouldn't have to rely on lawsuits filed by victims' families or Cantor Fitzgerald to discover who financed the attacks, or the role of Saudi Arabia or Pakistan in supporting the attacks, or why NORAD and the FAA failed to respond adequately before the World Trade Center was hit." An apology from President Bush and Congress? David McReynolds, New York Green candidate for the U.S. Senate <http://www.mcreynoldsforsenate.org>, calls the war on terrorism a disaster. "It was used as a pretext for the illegal invasion of Iraq. It has become a war on Muslims. It has increased terrorism, not reduced it. The dangers of such a war is shown in the recent horrific murders of hundreds of children, teachers, and parents in Russia. These murders and callous disregard of life were the unfortunate but easily foreseen byproduct of a decade of Russian bombing into obliteration of their opponents in Chechnya." "Ruthless behavior only prompts one's opponent to more war and violence, as the ties to civilized behavior are destroyed on all sides," added McReynolds. "The only way to peace is peace." Greens called the third anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy would be an appropriate and overdue opportunity for President Bush, Congress, and the defense establishment to apologize for their failure to protect our country against such an attacks. "It's appalling that only former counterterrorism advisor Richard Clarke so far has been willing to express his apologies," said Efia Nwangaza, South Carolina Green candidate for U.S. Senate <http://www.PeaceCandidate.com>. MORE INFORMATION: 9/11 Links:
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