Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2003 11:01:33 -0800 (PST)
From: DC Statehood Green Party <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: GREEN PARTY RELEASE Bush, launcing attack, is now indictable on war crimes charges
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
THE GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
MEDIA RELEASE For immediate release: Thursday, March 20, 2003
Contacts: Nancy Allen, Media Coordinator, 207-326-4576, [EMAIL PROTECTED] Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
AS THE INVASION OF IRAQ BEGINS, GREENS CALL BUSH INDICTABLE FOR WAR CRIMES
"[O]ur position is that no grievances or policies will justify resort to aggressive war. It is utterly renounced and condemned as an instrument of policy." -- Supreme Court Justice Robert L. Jackson, U.S. Representative to the International Conference on Military Trials, August 12, 1945, speaking on the culpability of German leaders
WASHINGTON, DC -- As President Bush gave orders launching the invasion of Iraq, the Green Party of the United States reaffirmed its opposition to the war and demand for the withdrawal of troops, quoting Theodore Roosevelt:
"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." (Remarks in 1918 on President Woodrow Wilson's suppression of dissent against U.S. involvement in World War I)
Pledging to maintain protests and other nonviolent action, Greens called the invasion a war of conquest and warned that President Bush and White House officials may find themselves indicted for numerous violations of U.S. and international law. Greens and other antiwar activists are organizing emergency responses to the invasion, including a recall campaign, initiated by PeaceEconomy.org, against prowar Congressmembers who violated their oath to uphold the Constitution by surrendering their power to declare war.
"The success of the U.N. inspections has only proven the need for continued diplomatic efforts undertaken in cooperation with the international community," said Annie Goeke, co-chair of the party's International Committee. "Nowhere in Resolution 1441 is there language that requires overthrowing the government of Iraq in a bloody invasion. There is no legal or moral basis for this war."
Greens listed several examples of crimes that may make Bush and other White House officials vulnerable to domestic prosecution and to Nuremburg-style international trials:
CONSTITUTIONAL VIOLATIONS: Military aggression and conquest violate the constitutionally mandated role of U.S. armed forces. (Article I, Section 8; Article IV, Section 4)
VIOLATION OF INTERNATIONAL LAW (U.N. Charter; Geneva Convention): Preemptive invasion without proof of an imminent attack is an illegal act of military aggression. The Bush Administration has never proved that an attack by Saddam on the U.S. or any other country is imminent. The mission of the U.N. is to avert war, not to rubberstamp invasions.
LYING TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AND THE WORLD: President Bush, Secretary of State Powell, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, and other officials have lied about the weapons capability of Iraq, including nuclear, bio, and chemical arms (Iraq has no means to deliver them); about connections between Saddam and al-Qaeda (which seeks to overthrow Saddam); about Saddam's involvement in terrorism against the U.S. (no evidence); about the U.S.'s intention to establish democracy in Iraq. In his January 28 State of the Union address, Bush used a paranoid fantasy scenario to justify war: "Imagine those 19 hijackers with other weapons and other plans, this time armed by Saddam Hussein....".
"Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country." -- Hermann Goering, Nazi leader, at the Nuremberg Trials, April 18, 1946
RECKLESS ENDANGERMENT: While Bush claims that the war on Iraq is necessary for homeland security, the invasion will result in terrorist retaliation against Americans at home and abroad. While Bush expresses concern for Iraqi civilians, the U.S. plans for a "shock and awe" campaign, with a massive missile attack on Baghdad, and intends to use cluster bombs and landmines, which will kill and maim thousands of civilians. The U.S. will also use depleted uranium, despite the severe health problems it caused American soldiers and Iraqi civilians in the last Persian Gulf War. The U.S.'s illegal coercive techniques in the treatment of al-Qaeda prisoners, with some prisoners sent to Egypt and other countries that use torture openly, places U.S. soldiers who are captured at grave risk of torture.
SUBTERFUGE: U.S. intelligence sabotaged the U.N. inspections in Iraq by withholding crucial information from the inspectors about Saddam Hussein's arsenal -- evident in Powell's own presentation before the U.N. Powell cited a graduate student's dossier on Iraq published ten years ago as 'damning evidence' collected by the British Secret Service. The U.N. is investigating the bugging, allegedly by the U.S., of the offices and phone lines of U.N. delegations whose support the Bush Administration sought for the invasion.
BRIBERY AND EXTORTION: The Bush Administration bribed Turkey and other countries to get their support in the U.N. for invading Iraq, and also threatened to withdraw foreign aid and impose other penalties. (The $26 billion bribe failed to persuade the Turkish parliament.)
AIDING AND ABETTING THE ENEMY: U.S. companies, in deals negotiated in part with Rumsfeld's help, sold Iraq chemical, bio (including Anthrax), and other weapons during the 1980s. While Vice President Cheney served as CEO, Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root did $73 million worth of business with Iraq between 1998 and 2000 and sold Iraq pulse generators, designed for oil drilling but which can be used for nuclear detonations, despite the economic sanctions against Iraq.
WAR PROFITEERING: According to the Wall Street Journal (January 16, 2003), officials from the White House, State Department, and Defense Department have met with execs from Halliburton, ExxonMobil, and other oil firms to determine who will control Iraqi oil after the war. Halliburton now has a multimillion-dollar contract to rebuild Iraq's oil field after the war, and ExxonMobil has won a $47.8 million contract to supply gasoline, diesel fuel and motor oil to U.S. and NATO forces.
MORE INFORMATION
The Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org National office: 1314 18th Street, NW Washington, DC 20036 202-296-7755, 866-41GREEN
Green Party antiwar mobilization page http://www.greenpartyus.org/peace.html
PeaceEconomy.org http://www.peaceeconomy.org
United for Peace and Justice http://www.unitedforpeace.org
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Forwarded by the D.C. Statehood Green Party http://www.dcstatehoodgreen.org
