Greens Mourn for First Thousand Killed in Iraq

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 8th, 2004

Greens Renew Call: Support Troops by Bringing Them Home
Party Mourns with Families as First 1000 Americans Killed in Iraq

qWith today's casualties, the number of Americans killed in the current occupation of Iraq has topped one thousand and neither Bush nor Kerrie have offered a plan to stop the bleeding. The Georgia Green Party marks this latest headstone by renewing its call to end the occupation of Iraq, to bring the troops home now and that voters cast their ballots this November for Peace.

"We grieve with the families of those killed in this occupation. Our hearts go out to the families of the troops as the Third Infantry, so recently returned home are again being deployed to occupy Iraq," said Harry Lyde, Treasurer of the Georgia Green Party, a retired police officer and a veteran of the war in Vietnam. "But damn those who send our children into this killing field. When my brothers and I were bleeding in Vietnam, Dick Cheney had 'better things to do'."

"Our interests lie here, improving our circumstances in the United States, providing our own with jobs, homes, health care, food and education for all," said Denice Traina, a physical therapist in Augusta who co-chairs the Georgia Green Party. "These lives wasted on this war, these tax dollars would be better spent sending our young folks to college and serving the needs of our citizens here at home than in sending them to Iraq. When we've done that, then we can join other nations to address problems on the international stage."

Besides one thousand Americans killed, over twelve thousand Iraqis have also died in the occupation of Iraq and countless others in US funded wars in Afghanistan, Haiti, Columbia and others. The Green Party's Platform calls for an end to the use of armed aggression as an instrument of foreign policy.

"In an economy who's largest export is our jobs, it is the young poor kids who are left with no choice but to die from poverty or die from combat," said Lyde. "Like Cheney, our children have 'better things to do' with their lives than to sleep and die in the sands of Iraq. We as parents must be assured that they are safe at home in their own beds."

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For further information, link to:

The Georgia Green Party
http://www.greens.org/georgia/

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