|
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Green Party of the United
States sees expansion of the conflict and risks of nuclear deployment in
the wake of the unilateral military strikes begun on Sunday, October 7
in retaliation for the September 11 attacks, and urges the U.S. to
undertake steps to promote stability, relief, and democracy in
Afghanistan and neighboring nations.
"If military action by the U.S. destabilizes the region, new
security problems will emerge," said Kara Ceriello, chair of the
Green Party of Washington State. "One of the greatest risks is the
fall of Pakistan's military government, which rules over a large
population that includes religious fundamentalists sympathetic to the
Taliban and to Osama bin Laden. Pakistan possesses nuclear
weapons."
The current unilateral military assaults risk being perceived as attacks
on Islam, and may undermine international support for the U.S., inflame
further terrorism, imperil Israel, and escalate the conflict into a
greater war. Greens especially oppose any attempt by President Bush to
wage war outside the scrutiny of Congress and the American people, and
note that the U.S. Constitution addresses war powers explicitly and does
not grant presidents 'blank check' power to wage war.
Green Party members say that a major lesson of the September 11 attacks
is that technology cannot ensure security and can be turned against us,
and that justice for the attacks must be sought through an
internationally cooperative police effort to apprehend the perpetrators
and try them in an international tribunal for crimes against
humanity.
"The Pentagon has already conceded that its strategy of fighting
two consecutive fronts was misplaced," noted Nathalie Paravicini,
secretary of the Green Party of the United States.
"Technologies proposed to protect the nation, such as space-based
national missile defense schemes, have already proved irrelevant and
divert vast resources in time and people power."
Related risks include a nuclear tactical strike by the U.S., including
deployment of a tactical nuclear weapon (research and development for
which was undertaken during the 1990s) designed to destroy heavily
fortified caves sheltering the September 11 criminals, and attacks on
nuclear power plants that risk Chernobyl-style disasters in densely
populated areas. Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld revealed on
September 23 that the U.S. has not ruled out the use of nuclear strikes.
Also, terrorist networks may be in contact with Saddam Hussein, who is
believed to possess nuclear, biological, and chemical materials for
weapons, representing a further threat if the conflict escalates.
Greens insist that the U.S. must undertake positive steps to ensure
regional stability, generate good will towards the U.S., and promote
economic self-sufficiency and democracy:
*** Provision of food and medicine to Afghanis who suffer from drought
and an economic disaster aggravated by the Taliban's oppressive regime
and a continuing civil war. One model for such action is Oxfam America's
call for relief http://www.oxfamamerica.org/humanitarian/afghanistan/index.html.
President Bush has discussed this; it should be an American priority.
The U.S. can also provide assistance for Afghanistan to convert its
agriculture from poppies for opiates to internally sustainable food and
fiber crops.
*** Ending U.S. policies that seek to maintain and extend control over
and dependence on Middle Eastern oil. American domination of
resources in Arab and Muslim nations motivates much of the antipathy to
the U.S., of which bin Laden's movement represents the violent
extreme.
*** International agreements that reverse nuclear proliferation, and
measures to keep nuclear plants in the U.S. and around the world safe,
while recognizing them as permanent hazards and dismantling them.
*** Ending the sanctions and raids on Iraqi infrastructure that have
resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians,
including a half million children; working to resolve the conflict
between Palestinians and Israelis in way that ensures the security of
both and guarantee human rights and the right of return for
Palestinians; and supporting other resolutions to regional
conflicts.
*** Ending policies that assist, arm, and train fanatics, drug dealers,
and other criminals around the world -- as the CIA did in launching the
careers of Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, and the Taliban.
While helping to rebuild and re-stabilize Afghanistan and other nations,
the U.S. can take humane steps at home:
*** Relief and assistance for airline workers, as well as other victims
of the September 11 attacks, including janitors, building
personnel and security, kitchen workers, and administrative staff
at the World Trade Center and surrounding buildings and the
Pentagon, and their families. The current bail-out for the airline
industry only benefits CEOs and investors.
*** A project to rebuild New York, with union labor, union pay, and
worker safety, and in accord with lessons learned about the special
safety problems of large buildings.
search: mdest, s11, fpol, pce
|
