[Northampton-GP] Revelation of Halliburton's Oil Distribution Deal Tops List of Lies

[Tim Carpenter]

> 
> EXTENSIVE LIST OF BUSH'S WARTIME LIES
> 
> THE GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
> 
> MEDIA RELEASE
> For immediate release:
> Monday, May 12, 2003
> 
> Contacts:
> Nancy Allen, Media Coordinator, 207-326-4576,
> nallen at acadia.net
> Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624,
> scottmclarty at yahoo.com
> 
> 
> 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, D.C. -- "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
> <http://abcnews.go.com/sections/nightline/US/globalshow_030425.
> html>.
> 
> "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?"
> 
> 
> MORE INFORMATION 
> 
> The Green Party of the United States
> http://www.gp.org
> National office: 1314 18th Street, NW
> Washington, DC 20036
> 202-296-7755, 866-41GREEN
>