OntheWilderSide

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 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.”

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