greeens challenge moveon

[Dan Scanlan <coolhanduke@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

GREENS CHALLENGE MOVEON.ORG: LISTEN TO YOUR MEMBERS, OPPOSE THE WAR

    While its members protest the Iraq occupation along with Cindy
Sheehan,
    MoveOn.org itself favors continued occupation, say Greens

WASHINGTON, D.C. (GPUS, Aug. 23) -- 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 (D-Calif.) 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
War and
MoveOn", Common Dreams, August 18).

    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, TX to
join
Cindy Sheehan's vigil at "Camp Casey" near 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, 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 such as Sen. Hillary
Clinton
(NY) and Sen. 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."

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For more information, visit www.gp.org

Green Party of the United States
1700 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 404
Washington, DC 20009.
Phone: (202) 319-7191
Toll-free: (866) 41GREEN
Fax (202) 319-7193

Green Party Peace Action Committee
http://www.gp.org/committees/peace/

Gold Star Families For Peace
http://www.GSFP.org