{news} Fw: GREEN RELEASE Fallujah offensive risks turning Iraq intoVietnam, say Greens

[Justine McCabe]

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
Friday, November 12, 2004

Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624,
cell 202-487-0693, mclarty at greens.org
Nancy Allen, Media Coordinator, 207-326-4576,
 nallen at acadia.net

FALLUJAH OFFENSIVE RISKS TURNING IRAQ WAR INTO
VIETNAM WAR, SAY GREENS

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Greens warn that the Fallujah
offensive, with heavy civilian casualties and
destruction of infrastructure, has completed the
transformation of the Iraq invasion into the
Vietnam War.

"The insistence that Iraq is better off without
Saddam Hussein while killing between 10,000 and
100,000 Iraqi civilians has turned President
Bush's rationale for the invasion into a
grotesque joke," said Tony Gronowicz, a member of
the International Committee of the Green Party of
the United States and author.

Greens said that heavy civilian casualties in
Fallujah will turn more Iraqis against the U.S.,
especially in other Sunni cities, leading to a
longer occupation and destroying hopes for
democracy in Iraq.

"Even if Operation Phantom Fury succeeds in
suppressing the insurgency in Fallujah, the
result may be more sympathy for the Iraqi
resistance throughout Iraq, which can hardly be
called a victory," said Justine McCabe,
Connecticut Green and member of the International
Committee.

Greens noted the silence of Sen. John Kerry and
other Democrats on the Fallujah operation.  The
Green Party has strongly opposed the invasion of
Iraq, demanded an immediate end to the
occupation, and called for support for U.S.
troops by removing them from harm's way and
returning them home.

Greens also noted that:

-- Estimates of Iraqi civilian deaths range from
10,000 (the British Foreign Secretary) to 14,000
<http://www.iraqbodycount.com> to 100,000 
(The Lancet).

 -- The U.S. occupation forces have prohibited
Iraqi men between ages 14 and 60 from fleeing the
city, a policy in violation of international law.

 -- The U.S. attack has destroyed one emergency
 hospital; U.S. military forces now occupy the
city's only remaining hospital, blocking
civilians from receiving medical attention.
Bombs have been dropped on civilian neighborhoods
and mosques targeted and destroyed.

-- The attitude of invasion apologists suggests a
dangerous mindset similar to "In order to save
the village, we had to destroy it" in Vietnam.
"Even if Fallujah has to go the way of Carthage,
reduced to shards, the price will be worth it" --
former military officer and neo-con ideologue
Ralph Peters, The New York Post, November 4, 2004
<http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/33310.htm>.

 --A major Sunni Muslim political party, the Iraqi
Islamic Party, quit the interim Iraqi government
and revoked its sole cabinet minister to protest
the attack on Fallujah.  Party head Mohsen
Abdel-Hamid explained, "We are protesting the
attack on Fallujah and the injustice that is
inflicted on the innocent people of the city."
<http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Iraq-Sunni-Protest.html>

 -- In having announced the Fallujah attack well
 in advance of the operation itself, the Bush
Administration gave insurgents time to prepare
sufficient defense to place U.S. military
personnel at great risk; the publicity for
Operation Phantom Fury began before the attack --
especially before Election Day -- suggests that
one of the operation's chief purposes was
homeland political propaganda.

-- Defense Secretary Rumsfeld continues to depict
insurgents as extremists loyal to Saddam Hussein,
when in fact the Iraq resistance ranges from
Islamic groups that opposed the ousted dictator
to Iraqi civilians who lost their businesses and
jobs under the U.S. occupation after
administrator Paul Bremer opened up Iraqi
businesses and resources to foreign corporate
ownership.

"There's no doubt that decapitation of hostages
by insurgents is atrocious, but the Iraqi people
understandably don't see the mass killing of
civilians by U.S. bombs as any less barbaric,"
said Peter LaVenia, chair of the Albany County,
New York, Green Party and president of the Green
Alliance.


MORE INFORMATION

The Green Party of the United States
http://www.gp.org
1700 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 404
Washington, DC 20009.
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193

2004 Green candidates and election results
http://www.greens.org/elections

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