Green Party Challenges Congress on Iran, FBI Abuses, Halliburton, & IraqGreen Party of the United States Wednesday, March 14, 2007 Contacts: 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.
"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."
"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."
"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."
"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
(http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/...)
by military means, the Iraqi civil war has grown more intense, and President Bush's
insistence 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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