Greens: Tactical retreat by pro-Democrat fake antiwar lobbies is setting back the peace movement

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

For Immediate Release:
Thursday, January 24, 2008

Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624,
cell 202-904-7614, mclarty@greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805,
starlene@gp.org


Greens: Tactical retreat by pro-Democrat fake
antiwar lobbies is setting back the peace
movement

• 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 <http://www.electwallace.us> and active
member of Iraq Veterans Against the War
<http://www.ivaw.org>. "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."

According to Politico
<http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0108/7949.html>,
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
<http://www.votenorth.org>.

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"
<http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/politics/blog/2008/01/moveon_anitwar_movement_still.html>,
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 <http://www.KinseyforSenate.org>.

The Green Party recently opened a new web page
featuring videos of Green presidential candidates
and debates
<http://www.gp.org/2008-elections/presidential-videos.php>.
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
<http://gpuspeace.wordpress.com>.


MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States
http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193
• Video of Green presidential candidates
http://www.gp.org/2008-elections/presidential-videos.php
• Green candidate database for 2007 and other
campaign information:
http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml
• Green Party News Center
http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml
• Green Party Speakers Bureau
http://www.gp.org/speakers
• Media credentialing
http://www.gp.org/committees/media/kit.shtml

Green Party Peace Action Committee
http://www.gp.org/committees/peace/