OntheWilderSide

Obama’s plan to send US troops into Pakistan will turn the war into a greater regional conflict

2008 Green presidential nominee Cynthia McKinney leaves on Bike4Peace 2010 cross-country tour

Green Party leaders and candidates are urging Congress to pass House Resolution 301 to remove US forces from Pakistan.  The privileged resolution was introduced by Reps. Dennis Kucinich (D-Oh.) and Ron Paul (R-Tex.), who said that President Obama’s plans for an increase of US troops in Pakistan violate the 1973 War Powers Authorization (http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2010/07/23-7).

The Green Party supports an end to the US war on Afghanistan, which the Obama Administration has escalated by deploying more troops and ordering air attacks across the border in Pakistan.  The party opposes the current war escalation supplemental bill and all proposals to increase war funding.

2008 Green Party presidential nominee Cynthia McKinney is currently participating in Bike4Peace 2010 (http://b4p.bbnow.org), a cross-country bicycle ride (San Francisco to Washington, DC) from July 24 to September 22 to protest the Afghanistan and Iraq wars and “demonstrate the bicycle as a transformational tool to solve the problems of Climate Change, Oil Wars, the Health Crisis, and the Economic Crunch.”

Colia Clark (http://www.coliaclark.org) said:

As candidate for the US Senate from New York, I offer my strong support for House Resolution 301.  It’s time the Congress heard the words of the late Dr. King who asserted that ‘America is the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today.’  It’s time the US Congress take strong measures to end the US practice of carrying wars to other parts of the world in the name of democracy and world peace.  We must withdraw all troops from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, and other parts of the world.  We must reinvent American democracy as one of peace.

“The secret files published by Wikileaks show that the White House and Pentagon know the Afghanistan War is a disaster, with hundreds of civilians killed, illegal military operations, and fears that Pakistan and Iran are assisting the Taliban.  President Obama’s plan to send troops into Pakistan will turn the invasion of Afghanistan into a wider regional war,” said Cecile Lawrence, Green Party candidate for the US Senate from New York (http://www.cecilelawrence.org).

Greens compared the military files exposed by Wikileaks to the Pentagon Papers, which revealed that the Johnson White House had deceived the public and withheld important information about the Vietnam War.  Green leaders asserted that the Afghanistan War is weakening rather than improving security for Americans.

“Mr. Obama is repeating the reckless and illegal policies of the Bush-Cheney Administration.  His refusal to consult Congress about expanding the war, in violation of the War Powers Resolution, proves that he has learned from his predecessors that he can overstep his power with impunity.  That’s why the Kucinich-Paul resolution is so important — it holds the White House to at least some standard of accountability,” said Darryl L.C. Moch,  DC Statehood Green Party candidate for DC City Council at-large and member of the Green Party Black Caucus (http://www.gp.org/caucuses/black/index.php).

Green Party leaders said that the election of a few Greens to Congress would establish an uncompromised antiwar bloc, which would demand quick withdrawal of all troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, oppose funding for the wars, and support reductions in military spending.

“President Obama’s escalations of the Afghanistan War, as well as the ongoing Iraq War and abuses like the use of torture at Guantanamo and other sites, should spark a mass revival of the antiwar movement.  Americans who voted for the Obama-Biden ticket because they wanted peace should stop making excuses for the Democrats and all the broken promises of change,” said George Martin, Wisconsin Green, member of the Green Party Black Caucus, and former national co-chair of United for Peace & Justice (http://www.unitedforpeace.org).

See also “Wikileaks: Massive Leak of Secret Files Exposes Truth of Occupation”, The Guardian, July 25, 2010 (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/series/afghanistan-the-war-logs).

MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
• Green candidate database and campaign information: http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml
• Green Party News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml
• Green Party Speakers Bureau http://www.gp.org/speakers
• Green Party ballot access page http://www.gp.org/2008-elections
• Green Party Livestream Channel http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus

Video clips from the Green Party’s 2010 Annual National Meeting, Detroit, Michigan, June 24-27 http://www.gp.org http://www.livestream.com/greenpartyus

Green Pages: The official publication of record of the Green Party of the United States
http://gp.org/greenpages-blog

Filed under: 3rd party, Action Alert!, activism, afghanistan, Anti-War, cynthia mckinney, grassroots democracy, Green Party, Iraq, nonviolence, Peace, politics, US Politics Tagged: | Pakistan