[Peace-discuss] Greens get it exactly right

[C. G. Estabrook]

[As a lapsed Green, I'm glad to see them get it right.  Their general 
statements/analysis are always better than their political organizing, which 
tends to be Leninist (i.e., a little group of "activists" is preferred to a 
broad, messy democratic organization). --CGE]

	January 24, 2008 2:42 PM
	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 - January 24 - 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."

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 .

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