Greens see risks of extended conflict

Author: Green Party of the United States

Topic: General News

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Green Party of the United States sees expansion of the conflict and risks of nuclear deployment in the wake of the unilateral military strikes begun on Sunday, October 7 in retaliation for the September 11 attacks, and urges the U.S. to undertake steps to promote stability, relief, and democracy in Afghanistan and neighboring nations.

"If military action by the U.S. destabilizes the region, new security problems will emerge," said Kara Ceriello, chair of the Green Party of Washington State. "One of the greatest risks is the fall of Pakistan's military government, which rules over a large population that includes religious fundamentalists sympathetic to the Taliban and to Osama bin Laden. Pakistan possesses nuclear weapons."

The current unilateral military assaults risk being perceived as attacks on Islam, and may undermine international support for the U.S., inflame further terrorism, imperil Israel, and escalate the conflict into a greater war. Greens especially oppose any attempt by President Bush to wage war outside the scrutiny of Congress and the American people, and note that the U.S. Constitution addresses war powers explicitly and does not grant presidents 'blank check' power to wage war.

Green Party members say that a major lesson of the September 11 attacks is that technology cannot ensure security and can be turned against us, and that justice for the attacks must be sought through an internationally cooperative police effort to apprehend the perpetrators and try them in an international tribunal for crimes against humanity.

"The Pentagon has already conceded that its strategy of fighting two consecutive fronts was misplaced," noted Nathalie Paravicini, secretary of the Green Party of the United States. "Technologies proposed to protect the nation, such as space-based national missile defense schemes, have already proved irrelevant and divert vast resources in time and people power."

Related risks include a nuclear tactical strike by the U.S., including deployment of a tactical nuclear weapon (research and development for which was undertaken during the 1990s) designed to destroy heavily fortified caves sheltering the September 11 criminals, and attacks on nuclear power plants that risk Chernobyl-style disasters in densely populated areas. Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld revealed on September 23 that the U.S. has not ruled out the use of nuclear strikes. Also, terrorist networks may be in contact with Saddam Hussein, who is believed to possess nuclear, biological, and chemical materials for weapons, representing a further threat if the conflict escalates.

Greens insist that the U.S. must undertake positive steps to ensure regional stability, generate good will towards the U.S., and promote economic self-sufficiency and democracy:

• Provision of food and medicine to Afghanis who suffer from drought and an economic disaster aggravated by the Taliban's oppressive regime and a continuing civil war. One model for such action is Oxfam America's call for relief . President Bush has discussed this; it should be an American priority. The U.S. can also provide assistance for Afghanistan to convert its agriculture from poppies for opiates to internally sustainable food and fiber crops.
• Ending U.S. policies that seek to maintain and extend control over and dependence on Middle Eastern oil. American domination of resources in Arab and Muslim nations motivates much of the antipathy to the U.S., of which bin Laden's movement represents the violent extreme.
• International agreements that reverse nuclear proliferation, and measures to keep nuclear plants in the U.S. and around the world safe, while recognizing them as permanent hazards and dismantling them.
• Ending the sanctions and raids on Iraqi infrastructure that have resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians, including a half million children; working to resolve the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis in way that ensures the security of both and guarantee human rights and the right of return for Palestinians; and supporting other resolutions to regional conflicts.
• Ending policies that assist, arm, and train fanatics, drug dealers, and other criminals around the world -- as the CIA did in launching the careers of Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, and the Taliban.

While helping to rebuild and restabilize Afghanistan and other nations, the U.S. can take humane steps at home:

• Relief and assistance for airline workers, as well as other victims of the September 11 attacks, including janitors, building personnel and security, kitchen workers, and administrative staff at the World Trade Center and surrounding buildings and the Pentagon, and their families. The current bail-out for the airline industry only benefits CEOs and investors.
• A project to rebuild New York, with union labor, union pay, and worker safety, and in accord with lessons learned about the special safety problems of large buildings.

Contacts:
Nancy Allen, Media Coordinator
207-326-4576, nallen@acadia.net
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator
202-518-5624, scottmclarty@yahoo.com