http://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=209
GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org
For Immediate Release:
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, cell 202-904-7614, mclarty@greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@gp.org
Any attempt by the White House to limit investigation will be an obstruction of justice, say Greens; Witness Against Torture protests planned for April 30
Green Party Speakers Bureau: Green leaders available to speak on related issues http://www.gp.org/speakers
WASHINGTON, DC -- Green Party leaders called on Attorney General Eric Holder and the Justice Department to investigate evidence of torture and punish any and all Bush White House officials who broke the law. Greens urged President Obama to release all torture memos.
"Political considerations have no place in this matter. The Department of Justice -- which is authorized to act independently of the White House -- must appoint a special prosecutor to investigate who broke the law and approved the use of torture," said Starlene Rankin, co-chair of the Lavender Green Caucus (http://www.lavendergreens.us).
Greens named several former White House officials who have been implicated in evidence already published: Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, national security advisor Condoleezza Rice, counsel John Yoo, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Vice President Cheney, and President Bush. Some Greens plan to participate in the '100 Days to Close Guantanamo and End Torture!' demonstrations (http://www.100dayscampaign.org) planned for Thursday, April 30, an event initiated by Witness Against Torture (http://www.witnesstorture.org).
Green Party leaders noted that some Democratic (including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Intelligence Committee chair David Rockefeller, and former House Intelligence chair Jane Harman) and Republican members of Congress were allegedly informed about the use of torture, and said that their silence and failure to object should be investigated as well.
"President Obama has said that '[n]othing will be gained by spending our time and energy laying blame for the past.' On the contrary, the President's oath of office requires that he uphold the law. If he tries to discourage the Justice Department from investigation and prosecution, he is abusing his own power as President and obstructing justice. Any attempt by the White House to immunize those who ordered, allowed, or participated in torture would violate international laws and agreements, especially the Convention Against Torture signed by President Reagan in 1988 (http://www.hrweb.org/legal/cat.html)," said Phil Huckelberry, Co-Chair of the Green Party of the United States.
The Green Party, which lists nonviolence among its key values, categorically opposes the use of torture under any circumstances. Greens listed several urgent reasons to investigate and prosecute officials allegedly involved in torture:
Torture violates US and international law. In the past, US and international courts have punished war criminals for waterboarding prisoners, establishing an inescapable precedent.
The use of torture has damaged the US's standing in the world and motivated greater hostility against Americans: how many US military personnel were killed or maimed in Iraq by those enraged by the Abu Ghraib abuses? International revulsion over torture may have made US allies less willing to cooperate with the US, thus reducing the US's ability to gather intelligence. Some of the damage can be repaired by punishing those responsible for torture.
Torture places US troops and other personnel at risk of similar retaliatory treatment if captured.
The circumstances of Abu Zubaydah's treatment, including 83 instances of waterboarding in August, 2002, suggest that torture might have been used to extract "evidence" of collusion between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda in order to justify the US invasion of Iraq. No genuine evidence of such an alliance existed, but the Bush Administration's deceptions led to a bipartisan vote in Congress in October, 2002, transferring war power to the White House in violation of the US Constitution.
Torture has never been a reliable way to gain information. Under torture in Syria, Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi's words were used to support the US invasion of Iraq, despite questions of credibility and his later admission that the information was fabricated (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_al-Shaykh_al-Libi). Information extracted through torture is especially unreliable in the 'ticking bomb' situations that Bush officials have been used to justify it. However, whether torture works is besides the point; Mr. Cheney's claims that such methods protected Americans lack credibility in light of his past deceptions.
Historically, torture has often been employed by lawless governments less to gain information than to create terror among targeted populations. Continued torture of some prisoners at Guantanamo Bay after they were known to be innocent is consistent with torture for this purpose. Under George W. Bush, the US joined the list of terrorist states around the world.
The use of torture cannot be separated from other Bush Administration abuses of power and violations of the US Constitution and international law (deceptions to win support for the invasion of Iraq, 'preemptive' military aggression, warrantless surveillance of US citizens), or from the Bush-Cheney doctrine of 'unitary executive power' placing the president above the law.
White House crimes that go unpunished are a license for future administrations to commit similar crimes, and new ones too.
MORE INFORMATION
Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193
Tally of Green election victories http://www.gp.org/2008-elections/election-results.html
Green candidate news http://www.gp.org/2008-elections/candidate-news.php
Green candidate database for 2008 and other campaign information: http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml
Green Party News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml
Green Party Speakers Bureau http://www.gp.org/speakers
Green Party ballot access page http://www.gp.org/2008-elections
Green Pages, Vol. 13, No. 1
The official publication of record of the Green Party of the United States
http://gp.org/greenpages-blog
~ END ~
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
A Poem about Stash
a little something about stash and me
roll away the dew
plays in background
jerry's incredible guitar licks
penetrate my body
and the candle light fills my room
i am alone with my feelings
and my thoughts and my self
my paula, my stash,
my friend, lover,
co-tv-host, co-parent
we were artists in love
living together for a few wonderful years
creating our way through our lives
teaching each other new tricks
and giving each other freedom to be
individuals and co-consorts
i sit and stare at the picture
she was young and adorable
in those sunglasses and standing that
cocky way butches stand
and look at a girl
that makes us melt
the first summer was pure bliss
we fucked at least twice a day
her energy was incredible
and i often thanked myself for
finding a lover ten years younger
than this middle-aged,
green, pagan, queer hippie-chick
i wrote a song about my stash babe
and sang it at a queer coffee-house
she sat in the front row
grinning from ear to ear
she adored me and wasn't shy
about showing it
i'd swoon at her touch
sometimes even at her look
i miss that experience
i miss her holding me tight
and softly kissing my neck
i miss singing indigo girls songs together
harmonizing beautifully
high as a kite
and grounded as a tree
my darling stash, was society's child
born into the violence of an
alcoholic, dysfunctional household
beaten from infancy
raped by the brother
tortured by the drunk dad
disowned by everyone
when she didn't act like a girl
the so-called caregivers
left her to institutions and jails
and a nurtured-less existence
she survived
being an artist
she created what she needed
to get through it
the shrinks claimed her
to be a "multiple"
i claimed her
to be diverse!
i told her
it's better to have too many personalities
than no personality at all
she giggled and grabbed me
and threw me on the bed
and passionately devoured me
for awhile i was totally in my body
yet, totally out of control
she took me over
and i willingly surrendered
to the orgasms
and to the moment
stash was torn between the
memories of years of abuse
and a future with me
filled with respect and love
i pumped her up with self-esteem
but the doctors pumped her full of drugs
that changed her
that took away her passion
in order to calm her fears
i work hard everyday as a green activist
to bring some sanity back to our country,
to our ailing planet
and everyday i ask
what can we do to end war?
what can we do to end violence
between countries and between ourselves?
we don't see that story on the tv screen
we see a "war against terrorism"
that drops bombs on innocents
where is the
"war against violence?"
where is the
"war against children terrorized in their own homes?"
my stash babe survived her childhood
but not her adulthood
society's child took a nap
on the last day of 2001
and didn't wake up
maybe another day on this crazy planet
was just going to be too much
i feel happy for stash now
she's with mother, she's returned home
to a safe place where love reigns
and one's potential is naturally manifested
like my boys sing, all you need is love...
written by:
starlene rankin
chicago, il, usa
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