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Iraq
Iraq - Bring the Troops Home Now |
Howie Hawkins, a former Marine, has opposed the invasion of Iraq from the beginning, working with the Greens to help organize protests. (see attached flyer). The Greens were part of many progressive and anti-war groups worldwide who helped to mobilize tens of millions to protest the pending invasion. Senator Clinton and the rest of Congress overwhelmingly voted to invade Iraq. (see info on Bush’s lies below)
Hawkins has repeatedly called for the immediate withdrawal of US troops in Iraq, while the people have been lied to about the reasons for the invasion of Iraq. The Bush administration knew there were no weapons of mass destruction and that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11. Our troops are dying and disabled for lies. It's time to support the troops by bring them home.
Hawkins noted that while Hussein was a brutal dictator, the US government had actively supported him for decades despite such behavior, partially to use him as a proxy in its ongoing conflict with Iraq. Iraq is just the latest example of blowback, where the US’ ongoing support of undemocratic leaders comes back to bite us.
Iraqis are fighting a US military occupation and corporate colonization of their country, which includes the construction of permanent US military bases and the pillage of billions of dollars intended for reconstruction by corrupt US contractors. We would fight back too if Iraqis tried to colonize our country. The US military and corporations can play no constructive role in Iraq now, except to withdraw and offer reparations to the Iraqis for the damages our government and its corporate contractors have caused.
Hawkins supports stopping illegal US-led wars to overthrow and occupy other countries (Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Haiti, Venezuela, etc.). Terrorism must be fought politically, by ending US policies that oppress and exploit Arab and Muslim peoples while bringing terrorists to justice under international law. Rather than curtailing civil liberties at home, we must end US support for terrorists when they fight on the side of the US (like Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden in the 1970s-1980s).
Hawkins supports deep cuts in the US Military budget. This massive peace dividend should be invested in rebuilding the American economy, protecting the environment and increasing funding for education, affordable housing and human service programs.
Greens Organized Against the Iraq Invasion
Greens warned in late 2002 and early 2003 that the Bush Administration was lying to American citizens and to the world when it claimed that Saddam Hussein possessed WMDs, that he has conspired with al-Qaeda, that Iraq had connections with the 9/11 attacks and that Saddam had sought nuclear weapons materials from Africa. Greens warned in March of 2003, that U.S. forces would use illegal weapons materials, including depleted uranium and cluster bombs; that the Bush Administration was already violating the law in the treatment of prisoners; and that contractors like Halliburton were poised to profit from the invasion. Greens warned repeatedly that an invasion of Iraq would inflame Muslim anger against the U.S., strengthening al-Qaeda and making the world less secure.
In July, 2003, the Green Party of the United States called for the impeachment of President Bush for deceiving the American people and for violation the U.S. Constitution, and for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.
Withdraw NOW
The Bush administration and Democrats argue that an immediate withdrawal is not possible since it would plunge the country in chaos and civil war. Unfortunately, that has already occurred in Iraq and there is no possibility that the US, which invaded the country, can help resolve such conflict. The first step towards peace for Iraq is removing the invader. The Bush Administration's treatment of Iraq and the Iraqi people is more consistent with conquest than with liberation. President Bush's notion of democracy has little to do with the power of people to govern their own affairs; instead, it means opening up resources, businesses, and markets to corporate ownership, especially by U.S. firms.
Hawkins, in urging the quick return of U.S. troops, cites news of high suicide rates among military personnel in Iraq, the Pentagon's refusal to allow American soldiers to leave the armed services after their original contracts expire, the growing number of troops killed and injured, reports that U.S. troops have been ordered to kill unarmed Iraqi demonstrators, and rising Iraqi resentment and frustration over the occupation.
Democrats are a War Party
The problem is not just Bush. The problem is Bushism, which is bipartisan. Pro-war Democrats like Hillary Clinton consistently vote for Bush’s war. It's time for the peace movement to declare its independence from the two-party system of big business and militarism and support the anti-war Green Party.
Expecting the Democrats to end the war is like expecting crack addicts to turn in their dealers. The Democrats, like the Republicans, are addicted to the political economics of militarism. They depend on campaign cash from military contractors. They are afraid to oppose the military contracts the Pentagon strategically places in every state and congressional district in the name of job creation.
Howie Hawkins and the Green Party have led the opposition to the bipartisan drive for empire by the Bush administration and Congress. On the tragic day of 9/11, the Greens in New York issued a statement warning against using this terrorist act as an excuse to launch another war for oil in the Middle East.
We are still calling for an independent investigation of 9/11 for why the Bush administration failed to take action after receiving many warnings from foreign governments about a pending terrorist attack. Meanwhile, the neo-cons with VP Cheney and Defense Secretary Rumsfeld at the helm were openly calling for a “new Pearl Harbor” to provide an excuse to invade Iraq and secure the Middle East oil supplies.
End War Profiteering
The takeover of Iraq's essential services and industries by foreign corporations, under occupation rules that enable 100% foreign ownership of Iraqi banks, mines, and factories and allow these firms to move 100% of their profits out of Iraq, violates the Hague regulations of 1907 (signed by the U.S.) and the U.S. Army's code of war. Allowing foreign companies to take over and profit from Iraqi resources and business is known as pillaging. Halliburton's $61 million overcharges for shipping refined petroleum products into Iraq under a no-bid contract is the tip of the iceberg. It's not enough to cancel Halliburton's contract. We need to see an independent investigation of war profiteering and pillage in the wake of the U.S. invasion.
To rein in the war profiteers and pillagers, the U.S. must end contracts without competitive bidding and deny government contracts to corporations with a history of corporate crime, tax dodging and off-shore accounts. And we need to help Iraq get back on its own economic feet by awarding reconstruction contracts to Iraqi businesses.
PRIOR TO THE INVASION, HAWKINS AND GREENS CITED A LITANY OF LIES AND MANIPULATION FROM THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION ON THE NEED FOR WAR:
BUSH: Iraq is a threat to the U.S.
Although clearly a dictator who inflicted death and suffering on the people of Iraq, Saddam Hussein did nothing to provoke an invasion, is neither a proven threat to U.S. security or to the borders of any nation in the Middle East region and commanded a weak military force. The White House has offered no plausible evidence that Saddam had any means of delivering short-range warheads, nerve gas, and other biochemical weapons, even if he possessed them.
The desire to change the regime of another nation is not a valid justification for invasion -- there is no right to wage 'preemptive' war. The invasion by the U.S. violated international laws, the U.N. charter, the Monroe Doctrine of U.S. military action as a defensive last resort, and the U.S. Constitution's restriction of the use of U.S. armed forces to the defense of our borders. It's clear that the U.S. was determined not to accept the results of the U.N. inspections.
BUSH: Saddam Hussein is in league with Al Qaeda.
The White House has never shown credible proof of any connection between Saddam and Al Qaeda, despite Bush's constant insistence of evidence gathered through intelligence.
BUSH: This is not about oil.
The Bush Administration's intention to seize control of Iraqi oil resources has been acknowledged by many supporters of Bush's war plans. Invasion supporter Sen. Pete Domenici (Rep.-NM), speaking in a moment of candor, said "that the administration's Iraq policies were based, essentially, on Israel and oil." (ABC News, January 10, 2003). Jack Straw, U.K. Foreign Secretary, acknowledged in a speech to British ambassadors that oil was the main motivation for Blair's support for Bush's war, much more so than any threat of WMDs; expressing the Blair government's concern over global energy supplies, especially oil imports, during the coming years.
The most outspoken war-for-oil proponent was Richard Perle, chair of the Defense Policy Board, a Pentagon advisory group. Perle's Rand Corporation report briefing submitted in July of 2002, recommends invading Iraq as a first step in gaining U.S. control over oil throughout the Middle East, especially Saudi Arabia (Boston Globe, September 10, 2002).
Contrary to the White House's claim that oil revenues from Iraq after the invasion should benefit the Iraqi people, Newsday reported that administration officials planned to use oil money to pay for the expenses of the U.S. postwar occupation of Iraq, which is expected to cost from $12 billion to $48 billion a year (January 10, 2003). Iraq has the second largest oil reserves in the world after Saudi Arabia; other Arab and Muslim nations would recognize the appropriated Iraqi oil money as proof of the U.S.'s colonial motivation for the invasion.
BUSH: Invasion of Iraq is justified by our 'Moral Clarity' against a member of the 'Axis of Evil.'
The White House's rhetoric about moral clarity is a mask for the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld doctrine: preemptive invasion to ensure U.S. interests; first-strike use of nuclear weapons; unilateral military action; withdrawal from or rejection of international treaties and agreements; and increased surveillance and erosion of Constitutional rights at home.
"This is not what a democracy looks like and acts like. This is how empires operate."
BUSH: We're doing this to help the Iraqi people.
Iraqis are fighting a US military occupation and corporate colonization of their country. The U.S.'s 'precision' warfare have killed tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians, almost all of whom did nothing to provoke being killed. Recent polls reveal that 67% of all three of Iraq's major ethnic groups (83% of Sunni, 61% of Shiite, and 57% of Kurds) believe that day-to-day security would improve after U.S. troops withdraw (World Public Opinion).
BUSH: We don't want to go to war.
In November of 2003, Richard Perle assured British members of Parliament that the invasion was inevitable, even if the U.N. inspection team didn't find evidence of nuclear and biochemical weapons. Bush Administration officials favored an invasion of Iraq even before September 11, 2001, according to policy blueprints such as "Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategies, Forces And Resources For A New Century," drafted in September 2000 by the think tank Project for the New American Century for the future Bush cabinet. |
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 *Website by David Doonan, Labor Donated to Hawkins for Senate Campaign* |
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