How to end the War

[irishbobcat]

How to End the Iraq War: Vote Green Party

It's time to face the truth: voting for Democrats (or Republicans) is not going to end the war or change the direction of the US.

• Democratic & Republican Party leaders supported the invasion of Iraq from the beginning.  In October 2002, Democratic leaders voted with Republicans to surrender Congress's constitutional war power over to the Bush White House.

• Democrats won't use their power in Congress to stall on Bush's requests for more war funding, which would result in a quick withdrawal of US troops.  According to an Associated Press news report on October 10, congressional Democrats have put troop withdrawals "on the back burner."

• Democratic Party leaders will only support vague and delayed timetables for bringing home US troops.  Clinton and Obama won't promise that all US combat troops will be out of Iraq by 2013.

• Democratic & Republican Party Leaders have rejected impeachment and won't hold Bush & Cheney responsible for criminal abuses of power: deceiving the American people about why we invaded Iraq, torture, surveillance of US citizens without warrant, detention without trial, violation of international laws, inaction and racist response to environmental emergencies (Hurricanes Katrina & Rita), tampering with scientific research on global warming.

• Top Democrats limit their criticism to Bush's strategic military mistakes in Iraq.  They won't talk about how the war itself is a crime — an invasion of a country that posed no threat to the US, based on manipulated intelligence and lies to the American people.

• Democratic & Republican Party Leaders want to plunder Iraqi oil: Democratic & Republican leaders have endorsed the Iraqi hydrocarbon law "benchmark" that would place 2/3 of Iraq's oil resources under the control of major US and UK energy companies.  This would require continued US military presence in Iraq to protect the investments of corporations like ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco, and BP.  The same oil
companies that contribute to Republicans also give campaign checks to Democratic candidates.

• Top Democratic & Republican Party Leaders also take money and orders from the pro-Israeli-government lobby (AIPAC), which demanded the invasion of Iraq and now demands an attack on Iran.  Clinton, Obama, and Edwards have signed on to Bush's threat of a US attack on Iran — which could touch off World War III.

Whether we elect a Democrat or Republican to the White House in 2008, the war will continue.  Our only hope for bringing home US troops safe and sound is to elect Green Party candidates to Congress, support a Green presidential campaign, and help the growth of the Green Party!


• Greens are committed to an immediate withdrawal of all US troops and to  impeachment of Bush & Cheney for their crimes.

• If Greens win seats in Congress, it'll shock Democrats (and some Republicans) into stronger action to end the Iraq War.  Democrats and Republicans will no longer be each others' sole competition for votes.

• The few genuine anti-war Democrats and Republicans in Congress aren't getting help from their own parties.  They need Greens in Congress to create the political bloc necessary to end the war.

• Thanks to the two-party monopoly on elections, America has moved toward more war, greater corporate power, and less democracy.  This direction will continue... until new political voices get elected.

• Green candidates take no money from powerful corporations.  Democrats and Republicans take big campaign checks from oil companies, arms makers, credit card companies, media conglomerates, HMOs, insurance firms, pharmaceutical  manufacturers, Wall Street, and other corporate lobbies.

• There is no hope for rehabilitating the Democratic Party or the Republican Party.  Progressive and anti-war cnadidates stand very little chance of getting the nomination or influencing the Democratic or Republican Party platform.  The party's powerful
leaders won't allow it, just as they blocked Jesse Jackson, Jerry Brown, Al Sharpton, and
other progressives in previous presidential races.  Past efforts to turn Democrats into "the people's party" have all failed.

• The only solution is a new, independent party. The Green Party is as urgent for America now as the anti-slavery Republican Party was in the 1850s, when it emerged as a third party competing against Democrats and Whigs.

• If you oppose the Iraq War and you vote for a pro-war candidate, you're throwing away your vote.  Vote for the real Peace Party — the Green Party!

Do we really want a future that's limited to Democrats & Republicans and the narrow points of view that they represent?  We The People deserve a party and candidates to speak for our own ideals, interests, and needs.  Help us build America's party of the 21st century — the Green Party!