• Substituting goal of electing Democrats for goal of immediate US troop withdrawal will lead to more war, say Greens

WASHINGTON, DC -- Green Party leaders called on Americans who oppose the Iraq War to rebuff an agreement among pro-Democratic 'antiwar' lobbies to scale back pressure to end the war.

"MoveOn.org, Americans Against Escalation in Iraq, and other groups have decided that passing legislation in Congress that does nothing to end the war makes their favorite Democratic candidates look better than demanding action to end the war quickly," said Jason Wallace, Green candidate for the US House in Illinois' 11th District and active member of Iraq Veterans Against the War. "The big myth of the 2008 election is that Democrats are the antiwar candidates. In reality, a vote for a Democrat is a vote for a longer occupation in Iraq and possibly a war with Iran."

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

For Immediate Release:
Thursday, January 24, 2008

Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, [email protected]
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, [email protected]

According to Politico, several mainstream antiwar groups in a recent K Street meeting have decided on a tactical retreat in the face of Congress's failure to reverse the Bush war agenda.

Greens have sharply criticized Democrats in Congress and leading Democratic presidential candidates for offering vague and deferred timetables for withdrawing US troops from Iraq; refusing to cut off funding for the war; criticizing President Bush solely on the basis of strategic mistakes in Iraq; for signing on to Mr. Bush's military threats against Iran; having voted to surrender Congress's constitutional war powers to Mr. Bush in 2002; and refusing to rescind the war authorization after the 2006 election.

Greens also noted that the Democratic Party leadership, including most presidential candidates, have rejected calls for impeachment despite evidence that the Bush Administration's fraudulent justifications for invading Iraq, war crimes, authorization of torture and warrantless surveillance of US citizens, broken treaties, and other abuses of power and violations of the US Constitution.

"Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have both said they'd maintain a permanent US military presence in Iraq with only a limited draw-down of combat troops that could then be redeployed 'just over the horizon.' This military misadventure is not in the best interests of Americans or Iraqis and only benefits the oil and weapons industries. Groups like MoveOn that divert the energies of peace activists towards Democrat candidates who fail to push for a prompt and total withdrawal only undermine the peace movement and advance the war agenda. Voters need genuine peace candidates like those from the Green Party," said Titus North, Green Congressional candidate from Pennsylvania's 14th District.

MoveOn has called on the Democratic presidential candidates to "be unequivocal in their commitments to remove all US troops within eighteen months of taking office", which could delay withdrawal until mid 2010. Greens contend that Democrats in Congress could have brought a rapid end to the war merely by stalling on White House requests for continued war funding.

"The position of Green candidates is that we are not willing to accept any more dying by violence -- American or otherwise. It has been the willingness of US military policy to accept collateral damage in the hundreds of thousands and forcing people to live under governments of our choosing, which drives hostility towards us and decreases our own security. The recent statement by NATO leaders urging maintenance of a first strike nuclear policy is one more example of a dangerous position that has been supported by both Republicans and Democrats," said Bob Kinsey, Colorado Green candidate for the US Senate.

The Green Party recently opened a new web page featuring videos of Green presidential candidates and debates. The party will choose its presidential and vice presidential nominees at the 2008 Green National Nominating Convention in Chicago, July 10-13.

"The election of a couple of Greens to Congress and a strong showing for the Green presidential nominee on Election Day 2008 would end the war quickly by showing Democratic and Republican politicians that they can no longer take votes for granted, especially votes from Americans who want peace," said Deanna Taylor, Desert Greens Green Party of Utah and participant in the Green Party Peace Network.