[GPCA Updates] GP RELEASE Citing Wikileaks files, Greens urge Congress to pass the Kucinich-Paul bill for withdrawal of US troops from Pakistan

[Green Party of California Updates]

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
Tuesday, July 27, 2010



Greens urge Congress to pass the Kucinich-Paul bill for withdrawal of US
troops from Pakistan, citing Wikileaks revelations

• 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 Speakers Bureau: Greens available to speak on foreign policy:
http://www.gp.org/speakers/speakers-foreign-policy.php

• 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


WASHINGTON, DC -- 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."

"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).

"As candidate for the US Senate from New York, I offer my strong support for
House Resolution 301," said Colia Clark (http://www.coliaclark.org).  "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."

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


~ END ~