WASHINGTON, DC — Green Party leaders welcomed the news of the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq by the end of December, calling the presidential order more than eight years overdue. Greens urged President Obama to let the troops come home to be with their families for the holiday, rather than stationed or redeployed elsewhere.
“We’re glad that President Obama is calling all US military personnel home from Iraq and has ignored Republican demands to prolong the occupation. The President is honoring a binding Status of Forces Agreement between the United States and Iraq that President Bush signed. The US must make every effort now to help US troops return to their civilian lives, especially those who’ve been wounded or have suffered psychological trauma because of the war. We owe the troops a great debt and an apology for sending them to fight in a war based on deception and cooked intelligence,” said Carl Romanelli, Pennsylvania Green and member of the party’s International Committee (http://www.gp.org/committees/intl).
Greens noted that the withdrawal is the result of the Iraqi government’s insistence and that the Obama Administration was initially reluctant to comply with the agreement (http://www.nationaljournal.com/u-s-troop-withdrawal-motivated-by-iraqi-insistence-not-u-s-choice-20111021).
The Green Party opposed the invasion of Iraq since its inception in March 2003 and demanded withdrawal afterwards. Greens blamed both Democrats and Republicans for transferring congressional war powers to the White House in Oct. 2002 despite uncertainty about WMD allegations (later revealed to have been the product of manipulated intelligence), forged evidence of nuclear weaponry, and implausible claims of cooperation between Saddam Hussein and Al-Qaeda.
Greens participated in protests throughout the US against the Iraq War, and — unlike many Democrats who claimed to oppose the war — continued to protest after President Obama’s election.
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