Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, mclarty@greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@greens.org
Greens Warn of Bush's 'Iraqification' Policies
for New Orleans
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Green Party leaders urged
Congress and all Americans to reject the White House's intention to
turn New Orleans and all disaster areas into zones of military
control, weakened human rights protections and oversight of federal
agencies, and corporate profiteering similar to occupied Iraq.
"The treatment of New Orleans' poorest,
especially African Americans, has already been widely reported and is
now a national shame, as is the ineptitude of Mayor Nagin's office,
FEMA, and other government bodies whose poor preparation and delayed
response helped turn the city into a ruin," said Romi Elnagar,
Acting Secretary of the Green Part of Louisiana. "But we've also
witnessed a new pattern, of policies and actions that have turned New
Orleans into a war zone all too similar to occupied Iraq."
On September 26, The Washington Post reported
President Bush's plan to place the Pentagon in charge of disaster
response, making such policies permanent and eliminating Posse
Comitatus restraints against using the military for domestic civilian
law enforcement.
Greens noted several indications of the 'Iraqification'
of New Orleans:
-
Incursion by Blackwater and other private
security forces, which already have contracts to provide security
in Iraq; such firms are not held to the same standards of
accountability as service members of the U.S. Armed Forces.
-
The cruel neglect of prisoners in Louisiana,
documented by Human Rights Watch <http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/09/22/usdom11773.htm>
and the ACLU <http://www.aclu.org/Prisons/Prisons.cfm?ID=19178&c=121>,
during the hurricane and its aftermath, with inmates locked in
cells as floodwaters rose, deaths, and inmates still missing --
recalling official toleration and encouragement of prisoner abuses
in Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay, and Afghanistan.
-
No-bid rebuilding contracts for companies like
Halliburton/KBR, which have already profiteered to the tune of
billions off the Iraq invasion and occupation, with similar no-bid
contracts; award of federal contracts to favored white-owned firms
and disregard by FEMA for requirements that contracts go to some
minority businesses. According to The Wall Street Journal on
September 23, Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson said that "his
staff has been unable to locate any federal contracts for
Mississippi that went to minority firms".... "During a
recent New Orleans City Council hearing... a half-dozen minority
business owners said they were being left out of the rebuilding
effort, and Council President Oliver Thomas told Mayor Ray Nagin
that he was living in 'Neverland' for thinking black businessmen
would receive a significant number of government contracts."
-
President Bush's appointment of White House
advisor Karl Rove -- an administration 'crony' with no known
expertise in urban policy or engineering (and who has been
implicated in the Valerie Plame scandal) -- to supervise the
rebuilding of New Orleans.
-
Cuts proposed by Republicans, eliminating as
much as $40 billion from Medicare and other social spending to pay
for clean-up -- just as they diverted funding from social programs
for the military venture in Iraq. "Elderly people who lost
their homes and health care providers as a result of the hurricane
will bear the brunt of the Medicare cuts," said Leenie
Halbert, acting co-chair of the Green Party of Louisiana.
"The failure to protect and care for people whose lives have
been devastated by the hurricane the repeats to failure to protect
and care for soldiers and their families most affected by the war
"
-
Proposed suspension of environmental
protections, with a waiver of EPA rules, in areas hit by Katrina,
comparable to the disregard of the environment in war zones.
"President Bush's recent proposal to
federalize the National Guard in response to the bird flu threat are
consistent with his exploitation of environmental disasters like
Katrina and human conflicts like 9/11," said Nan Garrett, Georgia
Green Party Co-Chair and Spokesperson of National Women's Caucus.
"Crises like Katrina should be an opportunity, not only to
provide relief, but to uphold all that's best about America and our
concern for people hit by misfortune. Instead, we're seeing an
unprecedented effort to centralize power, allow crony corporations to
make a killing, and undermine constitutional and environmental
protections."
MORE INFORMATION
Green Party of the United States
http://www.gp.org
1711 18th Street NW
Washington, DC 20009.
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193
"Bush Urges Shift in Relief Responsibilities:
Congress Asked to Consider Placing Pentagon in Charge of Disaster
Response"
By Jim VandeHei and Josh White, The Washington Post, September 26,
2005
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
"Blackwater Down: The frightening -- and
possibly illegal -- presence of heavily armed private forces in New
Orleans only demonstrates what everyone already feared: the utter
breakdown of the government."
By Jeremy Scahill, The Nation, posted September 22, 2005
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20051010/scahill
"Storms in the Gulf: Minorities Say Katrina
Work Flows to Others"
By Yochi J. Dreazen and Jeff D. Opdyke, The Wall Street Journal,
September 23, 2005
http://www.wsj.com
"GOP seeks cuts to ease cost of cleanup: Plan
targets Medicaid, other social programs"
By Rick Klein, The Boston Globe, October 1, 2005
http://www.boston.com/...
"Greens Condemn EPA Rule Waiver After
Katrina"
Press release, September 21, 2005, Green Party of Louisiana
http://www.gp.org/press/states/la_2005_09_21.shtml
http://www.LaGreens.org
Green Party relief efforts for areas hit by
Hurricane Katrina
http://www.gp.org/katrina2005/
http://www.rebuildgreen.org
http://www.getyouracton.com