[GPRI] FW: GP RELEASE Greens challenge Congress on Iran, FBI abuses, Halliburton, & Iraq

[Greg Gerritt]

------ Forwarded Message
From: DC Statehood Green Party <dcsgpnews2 at yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2007 23:04:12 -0700 (PDT)
To: <dcsgpnews2 at yahoo.com>
Subject: GP RELEASE Greens challenge Congress on Iran, FBI abuses,
Halliburton, & Iraq

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

For Immediate Release:
Wednesday, March 14, 2007

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


Greens challenge Congress on Bush's power to attack
Iran, FBI abuses and the USA Patriot Act, Halliburton,
and withdrawal from Iraq


WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Green Party leaders called on
Congress to reverse course and take positive action to
(1) limit President Bush's power to attack Iran; (2)
prevent future abuses by repealing the USA Patriot
Act; (3) hold Halliburton responsible for wartime
profiteering; and (4) force an immediate withdrawal of
U.S. troops from Iraq by cutting off funding for the
war.

• Greens strongly criticized a decision by Democrats
in Congress not to limit President Bush's power to
take military action against Iran.  On March 12, House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other members of the
leadership decided to strip from a major military
spending bill a requirement for Bush to gain approval
from Congress before moving against Iran.

"The decision of Democratic leaders not to restrict
President Bush's power to attack Iran shows that they
learned nothing from the Iraq War," said Sarah 'Echo'
Steiner, co-chair of the Green Party of the United
States.  "This decision is consistent with the failure
of many Democrats to acknowledge their own
responsibility for the Iraq disaster.  When Democrats
voted with Republicans in October, 2002, to transfer
war power from Congress to the White House -- which
was in violation of the U.S. Constitution -- they gave
President Bush a license for launching a war based on
deception.  We call on Congress to curtail President
Bush's ambition to attack Iran, and head off an even
worse disaster."

• Greens called on Congress to repeal the USA Patriot
Act immediately, in the wake of revelations that FBI
abused its power by collecting personal information
without court approval in non-emergency cases.

"It's not enough just to demand the resignations or
firings of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and FBI
director Robert Mueller 3rd," said Holly Hart,
secretary of the Green Party.  "The USA Patriot Act
itself violates civil liberties, weakening habeas
corpus and allowing warrantless surveillance.  Passed
with bipartisan support, it was an invitation to the
kind of abuses that we're learning about right now.
If Congress doesn't repeal it or at least amend it
extensively, more abuses are inevitable."

• Green leaders demanded that Congress act immediately
to cancel all contracts with Halliburton and its
subsidiaries and launch an investigation into illegal
profiteering from the Iraq War, as Halliburton
announced that it will move its headquarters from
Texas to Dubai.  Relocation in Dubai may make it
possible for Halliburton to evade U.S. taxes and avoid
prosecution for various crimes.

"Halliburton is a war profiteer in the worst way, with
a no-bid $2.4 billion contract for war-related
services, secret and improper contracts to provide
security in Iraq, and a cozy relationship with top
White House officials, including Vice President
Cheney, former CEO of Halliburton," said Green Party
co-chair Jim Coplen.  "Halliburton's recent business
deals with Tehran, at a time when the Bush
Administration is threatening an attack on Iran,
recall its business deals with Iraq during the late
1990s, when a trade embargo was in effect.  In case
after case, Halliburton has skirted the law and made
enormous profits -- with President Bush's blessing.
Meanwhile, ordinary Americans have been asked to
sacrifice."

• Greens sharply criticized Democratic leaders on
their 'timetable' for the U.S. to remove all troops
from Iraq by September, 2008, and reiterated the Green
Party's call for immediate withdrawal and a cut-off of
funding for the war.

"Nothing will be gained by keeping American forces in
Iraq even a single day -- except for more dead and
wounded U.S. soldiers and Iraqi civilians, and the
daily loss of billions of dollars in U.S. taxpayers'
money," said Liz Arnone, also a national co-chair of
the Green Party.  "General Petraeus has acknowledged
that the war is unwinnable by military means
<http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article1487615.ece>,
the Iraqi civil war has grown more intense, and
President Bush's insistance that the war will turn
around if we send 21,500 more troops is completely
implausible.  The very idea of 'mission accomplished'
in a war based on lies, illegal 'preemptive invasion,'
and vague and unrealistic objectives is obscene.  The
only morally valid actions now are to save as many
lives as possible, which requires an immediate
pullout, and to hold President Bush and other
officials responsible, which requires impeachment and
criminal charges."


MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States
http://www.gp.org
1700 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 404
Washington, DC 20009.
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193
Green Party News Center
http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml


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