The United States should have waited for an international investigation into the Sept. 11 attacks instead of attacking Afghanistan, National Green Party leaders said in a statement Wednesday.
“We believe the Sept. 11 attacks should … be characterized as an international crime against humanity, not a war,” the statement said. “A full investigation, undertaken with international cooperation, must take place. … American declarations of war inhibit rather than promote this international cooperation.”
The statement called for careful scrutiny of all U.S. policies in the Middle East, as well as lifting of economic sanctions against Iraq, which the Green Party said have caused more than 500,000 Iraqi civilian deaths. The statement was also critical of President George W. Bush’s ordering military action without congressional approval.
The president, as commander-in-chief, can legally order military action for 60 days before congressional approval is required.
Several Republicans disagree with the statement. Speaking on behalf of the Republican party, Daryl Howard, executive director for the Republican Party of Oregon, said the Green Party’s understanding of the situation “is wrong,” and that “the approach they have presented is not supported by Americans.”
Howard said the sanctions should not be lifted until Iraq allows inspectors access to facilities suspected of housing chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.
“If they will let us have access, then maybe we would take a look at the whole situation,” he said.
Stan Pulliam, the chairman of the University’s College Republicans, said that lifting the sanctions would be a “step back as far as punishment” of Iraq, which Pulliam said may be implicated in the attacks.
Both Pulliam and Howard said a world court will not be an effective means of bringing Osama bin Laden to justice.
“Osama bin Laden is not someone who would react favorably to walking into a court and letting them settle things,” Howard said.
Pulliam said he is “not too concerned about a world court, which would have Taliban members.”
“We did not take the offensive,” Pulliam said. “I find it insulting (that) they want us to take a step back when we were the country that was attacked. We have waited, gathered evidence and built a world alliance for more than a month before our first attack.”
Local and international Greens support the national party’s statement. Blair Bobier, a founder of the Pacific Green Party, said the terrorists need to be brought to justice, but the United States is reacting too quickly and too violently, and the government’s actions “sadden me almost as much as the events on Sept. 11.
“Is killing innocent civilians any different? It appears the U.S. is doing the same thing,” Bobier said.
He also said civilian casualties will be unavoidable if military action is taken, regardless of whether the United States is accompanied by international forces.
“Military action certainly didn’t work when the U.S. went (into Panama) to get Noriega,” he said.
Pekka Haavisto, spokesman for the European Federation of Green Parties, said explosions at U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in August 1998 and the October 2000 suicide attack on the USS Cole were indicators of the Middle East’s feelings toward the United States. He also said the creation of a United Nations world police force is necessary.
“An eye for eye, and soon the whole world will be blind,” Haavisto said. “We are not heading to the old-style Wild West — dead or alive — but to a world with justice and strong international laws.”
Marty Toohey is a freelance reporter for the Emerald.