Posted by Sadie from ? (160.129.27.22) on Wednesday, May 14, 2003 at 5:26PM :
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MAY 12, 2003
1:49 PM
CONTACT: Green Party of the United States
Revelation of Halliburton's Oil Distribution Deal Tops the Extensive List of Bush's Wartime Lies
Greens, Calling Toleration of White House Deceit and Evasion a Grave Threat to U.S. Democracy, Ask "Why is Perjury About Oral Sex Cause for Impeachment, but not Perjury About Reasons for War? Why is the Democratic Party Asleep in the Passenger Seat?"
WASHINGTON - May 12 - "The revelation that Halliburton's multibillion-dollar postwar contract involves distribution of Iraqi oil tops off a list of White House deceptions about the purpose of the invasion of Iraq," said Jake Schneider, treasurer of the Green Party of the United States. "Rep. Henry Waxman's [D.-Calif.] exposure of the Halliburton deal proves what Greens and other opponents of the war have said all along. The U.S. victory over Saddam's forces wasn't a matter of liberation for the people of Iraq, but of conquest -- of regional political dominance and control over Iraq's oil resources."
Many of the deceptions surrounding the U.S. invasion have been blatant and known to be false all along, say Greens.
"What does it say for the health of American democracy, when President Bush or Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld can make patently false statements, without challenge from most of the media or most Democrats?," asked Mark Dunlea, chair of the Green Party of New York State. "Many Americans seem to believe that the dishonesty is justified simply because the U.S. won the war."
Greens cite numerous examples of wartime deceit and evasion:
*** According to countless speeches and statements by President Bush and his cabinet and staff, the menace of Saddam's weapons of mass destruction, with the imminent threat they posed to Iraq's neighbors and the U.S., was the major cause for the war. But after a massive invasion in which thousands of sites were targeted throughout Iraq, the U.S. has discovered no evidence of WMDs. Some White House officials have conceded that Iraqi WMDs was not the real cause for the war .
"If the U.S. truly believed that Iraq possessed WMDs, if the intelligence that Secretary of State Powell presented to the U.N. in February was at all valid, their discovery should have been a strategic goal during the first days of the invasion," asked Dunlea "Why didn't U.S. forces make securing Iraq's nuclear facilities at Kut and al Tuwaitha a priority? Any postwar search for WMDs in Iraq or elsewhere should be conducted by U.N. inspectors, since U.S. officials can no longer be trusted."
*** Rumsfeld expressed great concern over Iraq's cultural heritage and promised that the U.S. would do everything to protect sites, artifacts, and museums and libraries. But while U.S. troops guarded Iraq's Ministry of Oil, they did nothing to protect Iraq's museums, libraries, and colleges from looting and destruction.
*** Numerous conflicts of interest, in which the Bush Administration's top corporate contributors and cronies won million- and billion-dollar wartime deals, have gone uninvestigated. The exposure of Pentagon advisor Richard Perle's scandalous conflicts of interest connections with defense contractor Global Crossing led to Perle's resignation as board chair last week, but Perle retains a seat on the board.
*** In the months leading up to the war: The International Atomic Energy Agency disavowed President Bush's claim in September 2002 that an agency report showed evidence that Iraq in 1998 was 'six months away' from developing a nuclear weapon. The Bush Administration, including Powell speaking before the U.N. and the President in his victory speech on board the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln on May 5, claimed that Saddam had conspired with al-Qaeda, despite the lack of evidence and the fact that al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden have called for Iraqi Muslims to topple Saddam; about half of the American public believed this unsupported allegation, according to polls. Powell's claim that Iraq tried to buy uranium for nuclear weapons from Niger was based on clumsily forged evidence. Powell's exclusive British intelligence information was plagiarized from a paper published over a decade ago by an American graduate student.
Greens also note that the White House and intelligence agencies are blocking the release of information about the September 11 terrorist attacks, delaying publication of a 900-page report from Congress on how the attacks happened. The blocked information includes details of early warnings received by the FBI, as well as testimony already published, such as the Phoenix memo.
"Why aren't these deceptions and evasions a major scandal and cause for investigation and prosecution?", asked Starlene Rankin, Lavender Green Caucus delegate to the national party. "Where's the outrage from the public and media? Why is perjury about oral sex cause for impeachment, but not perjury before Congress, the American people, and the U.N. about reasons for war? Why is the Democratic Party, except for a few vigilant Congressmembers like Henry Waxman, asleep in the passenger seat?"
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-- Sadie
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