{news} GP RELEASE Greens to Congress: address Iraq War as crime, not strategic blunder

[Justine McCabe]

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

For Immediate Release:
Thursday, February 15, 2007

Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624,
mclarty at greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805,
starlene at gp.org


Greens to Congress: Debate over Iraq must address the
war as an impeachable crime, not as a strategic
blunder requiring more U.S. troops to correct

. Congress must cut off funding for all U.S. military
actions in Iraq, compelling President Bush to call the
troops home, say Greens, citing Vietnam War precedent


WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Green Party leaders urged
Congress, as it debates a nonbinding resolution on
President Bush's proposal to send 21,500 more U.S.
troops to Iraq, to reject a discussion of the war on
strategic grounds, and instead address the war as a
criminal act of military aggression.

Greens called on Democrats and Republicans in Congress
who claim to oppose the war to interrupt President
Bush's agenda in Iraq by cutting off funding for the
U.S. occupation.

"If antiwar Democrats and Republicans limit their
discussion to whether the U.S. should commit more
troops, then President Bush will have won the debate,"
said Liz Arnone, co-chair of the Green Party of the
United States.  "The question Congress should ask
isn't how many U.S. service members should be sent to
Iraq, it's how to end the Iraq disaster as quickly as
possible, how to hold the Bush Administration
accountable for its abuses of power and the deaths of
over 3,000 U.S. troops and hundreds of thousands of
Iraqi civilians, and how to prevent such abuses in the
future."

Congress must address the following points in its
current discussion, said Greens:

. The Iraq War didn't fail because the White House and
Pentagon botched it strategically, although it's
evident that the invasion was undertaken without
regard for the protection of many U.S. service
personnel (e.g., inadequate body armor; illegal use of
depleted uranium and white phosphorus, which also harm
civilians), the need to secure Iraq's borders, and
other basic military necessities.  The Iraq War was an
inevitable disaster, said Green Party leaders, because
it was a preemptive invasion of one nation by another,
justified before the public by manipulated
intelligence estimates and a disinformation campaign
(false claims about WMDs; Saddam Hussein's collusion
with al-Qaeda; Saddam's purported threat to
neighboring countries and the U.S.), with minimal
consideration of the outcome (mass Iraqi civilian
deaths; probably civil war; international outrage,
especially among Muslim and Arab nations; empowerment
of radical religious and terrorist groups in the
region).

"Preemptive invasion is illegal under international
law.  Congress must treat the Iraq invasion as a
criminal atrocity, requiring impeachment of President
Bush and Vice President Cheney, and investigation and
criminal prosecution of those responsible for the
war," said Rebecca Rotzler, co-chair of the Green
Party and Deputy Mayor of New Paltz, New York.  Ms.
Rotzler will participate in the Emergency Summit to
Impeach Bush for War Crimes, February 17-18 in New
York City (more information at <http://www.gp.org>).

. Congress must cancel all future funding for the Iraq
War, compelling the White House to withdraw U.S.
troops and return them home safe and sound.

"It's obvious by now that the continued presence of
U.S. forces in Iraq will not improve the situation for
the Iraqi people or lead to peace, stability, or
democracy," said Gretchen Dutschke of the Green
Party's International Committee.  "If Congress members
merely address President Bush's strategic plan to send
more troops, then Congress is debating according to
the White House's own terms, with a false choice
between victory and defeat for the U.S.  Congress must
reject the Bush Administration's frame of the debate,
and instead demand immediate withdrawal.  As in the
1970 Cooper-Church amendment, which prohibited further
funding for military action in Cambodia and Laos,
Congress can force a withdrawal from Iraq by
preventing the White House from spending another dime
on the occupation."

. Congress must address the Bush Administration's
numerous abuses of power in connection with the Iraq
War: Defense Department policy that clearly encouraged
torture and abuse at Abu Ghraib, as well as sites in
Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay, and secret sites in
Europe; 'extraordinary rendition' of prisoners to
countries that allow torture to extract information;
favoritism for profiteering corporations and
privatized military operations like Halliburton and
Blackwater USA, as well as for U.S. and U.K. oil
companies that are about to profit from the new Iraqi
'Hydrocarbon Law' ("Shock and oil: Iraq's billions &
the White House connection," The Independent, January
14, 2007
<http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2152438.ece>).

. Congress must address its own complicity in
President Bush's decision to wage war on Iraq, through
October 2002 legislation that transferred war power to
President Bush.

"The Iraq Resolution gave President Bush a blank check
to launch the invasion of Iraq -- contrary to the U.S.
Constitution, which limits war power to Congress
itself, a necessary check on executive power," said
Katey Culver, co-chair of the Green Party of the
United States and co-chair of the Green Party of
Tennessee.  "We ask Congress to repudiate the
Bush-Cheney doctrines of unitary executive power and
perpetual warfare, and restore the Constitution's
checks and balances."

. In order to achieve stability in Iraq and the
surrounding region and security for the U.S. and the
world, Congress must support an integrated policy
based on negotiation, diplomacy, and respect for human
rights instead of military force.

"Withdrawal from Iraq, diplomacy with Iran in
combination with global nuclear disarmament, and
pressure on Israel to end its illegal occupation of
Palestinian lands and observe human rights and
equality are the necessary starting points for peace
in the Middle East and western Asia," said Green Party
co-chair Jim Coplen.  "Anything else will only
encourage future war and violence, including terrorism
against the U.S."


MORE INFORMATION

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
Green Party News Center
http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml

"How Congress Helped End the Vietnam War"
By Julian E. Zelizer, The American Prospect, February
6, 2007
http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=12438


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