HOW TO END THE IRAQ WAR: VOTE GREEN

HOW TO END THE IRAQ WAR: VOTE GREEN

It’s time to face the truth: voting for Democrats is not going to end the war or change
the direction of the US.

• Democratic Party leaders supported the invasion of Iraq from the beginning. In October 2002, they voted with Republicans to surrender Congress’s constitutional war power over to the Bush White House.

• Democrats won’t use their power in Congress to stall on Bush’s requests for more war
funding, which would result in a quick withdrawal of US troops. According to an
Associated Press news report on October 10, congressional Democrats have put troop
withdrawals “on the back burner.”

• Democratic Party leaders will only support vague and delayed timetables for bringing
home US troops. Clinton and Obama won’t promise that all US combat troops will be out of Iraq by 2013.

• Democrats have rejected impeachment and won’t hold Bush & Cheney responsible for
criminal abuses of power: deceiving the American people about why we invaded Iraq,
torture, surveillance of US citizens without warrant, detention without trial, violation
of international laws, inaction and racist response to environmental emergencies
(Hurricanes Katrina & Rita), tampering with scientific research on global warming.

• Top Democrats limit their criticism to Bush’s strategic military mistakes in Iraq.
They won’t talk about how the war itself is a crime — an invasion of a country that
posed no threat to the US, based on manipulated intelligence and lies to the American
people.

• Democrats want to plunder Iraqi oil: Democratic leaders have endorsed the Iraqi
hydrocarbon law “benchmark” that would place 2/3 of Iraq’s oil resources under the
control of major US and UK energy companies. This would require continued US military
presence in Iraq to protect the investments of corporations like ExxonMobil,
ChevronTexaco, and BP. The same oil companies that contribute to Republicans also give campaign checks to Democratic candidates.

• Top Democrats also take money and orders from the pro-Israeli-government lobby (AIPAC), which demanded the invasion of Iraq and now demands an attack on Iran.

• Clinton, Obama, and Edwards have signed on to Bush’s threat of a US attack on Iran –
which could touch off World War III.

* * *

Whether we elect a Democrat or Republican to the White House in 2008, the war will
continue. Our only hope for bringing home US troops safe and sound is to elect Green
Party candidates to Congress, support a Green presidential campaign, and help the growth of the Green Party!

Greens: Send letter to drop charges against anti-war activist

The Alison Bodine Defense Committee is appealing to all progressive individuals, groups and organizations who advocate for social justice to support the campaign to defend Alison Bodine, a US citizen who is being targeted by the government of Canada and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) for being an anti-war and social justice activist.

Greens Prepare for October 27 Anti-War Mobilization

Greens all over the country are preparing to meet up at the various centers of mobilization on Saturday, October 27 as part of the action called by United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ). The Green Party of the United States is a coalition member of UFPJ and has endorsed this national call to action.
Greens from New England are gearing up to meet in Boston at the New England gathering.

Greens east will gather in Philiadelphia and in New York.

Greens in the west will gather in Los Angeles , San Francisco, and Seattle.

Greens in the south will gather in New Orleans , Jonesborough and Orlando.

We will be providing more specific details about Green meet-ups in the coming weeks!

Bring All The Troops Home Now!
End All Funding for the Iraq War Now!
Support Our Communities, Fund Human Needs!
No Attack on Iran!
Stop the Attacks on Civil Liberties, Defend Human Rights!

Imagine Peace

The biggest online peace event.
On October 9th 2007, John Lennon’s birthday.
IMAGINE PEACE as Yoko Ono unveils the IMAGINE PEACE TOWER.

Callng 2008 Peace Candidates

Are you going to be running for office for your state party in 2008? If so, we want you!

Please contact us for an interview. We want to interview all 2008 Green Party Candidates who will have peace in their platforms and put the interviews on this blog!

Contact Peace Candidate Interviews

More from Sept 29 in NY (Rebecca Rotzler)

Speaking for the Green Party was Rebecca Rotzler, former Deputy Mayor of New Paltz and member of the Green Party National Peace Action Committee.
I do not speak from script, but will give the
sentiments of what I said at the rally. First, the march went by a building
that houses the Homeless Veterans Program, homeless and veterans should
never be in the same sentence. Why do we have a building that s home to a
homeless veterans program and not a building that is home to veterans? I
was speaking on behalf of the Green Party, the only party that has Peace in
it’s platform, and was asked to bring a message to the veterans. The Green
Party stands behind our veterans, we stand behind Iraq Veterans Against the
War (IVAW) and we stand behind our enlisted men and women who RESIST. When
in office I took the same oath to uphold The Constitution as members of IVAW
did, and they are upholding that oath by not agreeing to fight in a illegal
war based on lies. Last November many people came out and voted for
Democrats believing that they were voting against the War but less than a
year later they have done nothing to get us out of Iraq and all they have
done is put more money into the war. Why? The Democrats are funded by the
same corporations that the Republicans are, oil corporations and weapons
manufacturers, the Green Party does not accept corporate donations.

All right, it is hard to bring back stuff that I was screaming, vote peace
in ‘07 and ‘08, but I did also point out that when I was in office the local
VFW would come to our board to ask permission to hold the Memorial Day
parade on May 30, the traditional day and not the random Monday where
businesses can advertise Memorial Day sales, it may seem like a small
gesture, but now in New Paltz May 30 is recognized as the official Memorial
Day through legislation that I enacted. I know it means a lot to our local
veterans.

Rebecca Rotzler, NY

More photos

 

Pictures from Arlington South

Here are some pictures from a memorial we did in Charlotte this past weekend: http://s236.photobucket.com/albums/ff65/dfred99/

TONC-DC Blog & news article (Ann Wilcox)

GPAX Friends: Just wanted to forward a “final” blog from the Troops Out Now March against War at Home and Abroad, held on Saturday 9/29 in DC. The article below gives the Wash Post take on the day; we had at least a couple thousand people there, and the article fails to note that this march came at the end of a full month of anti-war activity in DC. But that’s to be expected!

Saturday was another sunny and beautiful day. Marchers gathered by the Capitol Reflecting Pool, forming a colorful crowd of students and people of all ages - protesting the war, Katrina, immigrant rights and other issues. A wide range of signs and banners were evident. Speakers including Jared Ball of the Green Party called on marchers to oppose the war, and all social & economic injustice. Sara “Echo” Steiner of the GP Steering Committee co-emceed the rally with her usual energy, and Malik Rahim of the New Orleans Greens and Common Ground also spoke. Reps of Iraq Veterans against the War, Code Pink and other groups also spoke. After a high-energy rally, we marched through the streets of DC, passing FEMA and ICE (customs immigration), bypassing the usual spots such as the White House.

The rally ended with over 100 students sitting in at Constitution Avenue, later blocking both Const. and Pennsylvania Avenues for over 4 hours! DC police stood by as students set up a “tent city” in the street, danced and chanted. Finally, with numbers dwindling slightly, the group decided to declare the protest ended and come back even stronger next time. By 10:00 pm, most of the tents and structures at the main Encampment were also dismantled. On Sunday, many folks attended a BBQ and fundraiser at the home of Maryland Green Martine Zymandis - a perfect end to a week of activism.

War Protest Draws Small Crowd

Participants Cite Public Apathy in Low Turnout
for Rally at the Capitol

By Carol D. Leonnig
The Washington Post, September 30, 2007

Hundreds of demonstrators, including students and
families, rallied and marched in downtown
Washington yesterday to protest the war in Iraq,
complaining that the Democratic-controlled
Congress has failed to do the public’s bidding
and bring U.S. troops home.

Majority in North Carolina wants troops home

(Raleigh) News & Observer

Nearly two of three North Carolinians disapprove of the way President Bush is handling the war in Iraq, according to a new poll from Elon University.

The 65 percent disapproval rating is down slightly from April, when 70 percent said they were unhappy with Bush’s management of the conflict.

The poll was conducted Sept. 24-27 by the Elon University Institute for Politics and Public Affairs. It surveyed 664 North Carolina residents, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.9 percent.

The increase in support for the president’s handling of the war coincides with a small increase in the number of people who approve of the president’s overall job performance, Elon pollsters said.

Of those surveyed, 38 percent either approve or strongly approve of Bush’s performance, compared with a 36 percent approval rating in an April poll by Elon. Among other findings:

- 67 percent support a timetable to withdraw some U.S. troops from Iraq by the beginning of 2009, and 64 percent said that they would support a timetable to withdraw some troops by the summer of 2008.

- About 50 percent said the war with Iraq was not worth fighting, with 53 percent saying the United States should no longer be in Iraq.

- 41 percent think that the war has made the nation less safe from terrorism, down from 50 percent five months earlier. 37 percent said they believe the nation is safer, and 15 percent said it is about the same.

- 56 percent felt the nation is more at risk for terrorist attacks, another drop from April, when the figure stood at 61 percent.

“The war in Iraq continues to burden the Bush administration — citizens are unhappy with the war and apparently becoming more disenchanted with the prospects of it ending anytime soon,” Hunter Bacot, director of the Elon University Poll, said in a news release.

“More telling is that a majority of people now believe we should not be there and two-thirds want to see troops start coming home by the beginning of next year. Such findings in a ‘military friendly’ state point to the potential political costs this issue poses for both this administration and the Republican Party over the next year.”

LA Action September 29 (Dee Taylor)

Approximately 1,000 people participated in the Anti-War March and Rally in downtown Los Angeles Saturday, September 29, 2007. The event was organized by the Troops Out Now Coalition. Messages centered around withdrawing troops from Iraq immediately, stopping an impending war with Iran, freeing the Jenna 6, getting Greens elected to office, and diverting funds from war to services for people in the United States.