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MoveOn.org Should Listen to Their Members and Oppose the War. Tuesday, August 23, 2005 Contacts: While its members protest the Iraq occupation along with Cindy Sheehan, MoveOn.org itself favors continued occupation, say Greens. WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Green Party leaders are challenging MoveOn.org to support an immediate pullout of troops from Iraq. "MoveOn has done an admirable job of rallying people nationwide behind Cindy Sheehan's protest vigil in Crawford, Texas," said Rebecca Rotzler, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States and Deputy Mayor of New Paltz, New York. "But MoveOn itself has undermined such efforts by refusing to endorse an immediate end to the occupation of Iraq." Journalist Norman Solomon has noted that MoveOn declined to support a resolution from Rep. Lynn Woolsey stating that "the president should develop and implement a plan to begin the immediate withdrawal of United States Armed Forces from Iraq" and Rep. Barbara Lee's (D-Calif.) bill to block the establishment of permanent U.S. military bases in Iraq ("The Iraq Warand MoveOn", Common Dreams, August 18, <http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0818-33.htm>). Several Green Party members, including Ms. Rotzler (who also serves as co-chair of the Green Party's Peace Action Committee), Andrea Garland of New Orleans, and Mato Ska of Phoenix have traveled to Crawford to join Cindy Sheehan's vigil at 'Camp Casey' near Mr. Bush's ranch, while thousands of other Greens participated in support vigils across the U.S. on August 17. The Peace Action Committee issued a statement in support of the Camp Casey vigil <http://www.gp.org/press/pr_2005_08_10.shtml>, which Ms. Rotzler presented to Ms. Sheehan. "We challenge MoveOn to listen to its own membership, and take a stand against the invasion and continued occupation of Iraq," said Ms. Garland. Greens have rejected the claim of Democrats like Senators Hillary Clinton (NY) and Joe Biden (Del.) that the problem with the Iraq War is the Bush Administration's military miscalculations. "The invasion and occupation are crimes, based on deception about the motivations for the invasion, a radical ideology that embraces 'preventive war' -- condemned by international law after World War II -- and an oil grab," said Leenie Halbert, Louisiana Green and member of the party's International Committee. "This abuse of power was inevitable after most Democrats in October 2002 voted with Republicans to surrender Congress's constitutionally mandated power to declare war to the White House." MORE INFORMATION Green Party of the United States
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