The Green Party - A real committment to peace

 (Picture taken from www.stopwar.org.uk)

It is with dismay, but not surprise that the 3 main parties have little to offer when it comes to our defence policy.  Labour, Conservative and Lib Dems are all committed to keeping our troops in Afghanistan, even though there is no sign of end to the war.  In fact, by the end of the year we will have been in longer than the Soviet Union, who could not take control of the country with a much larger force than we have committed.

The Green Party offers a real alternative with a commitment to remove our troops from Afghanistan, as it is now absolutely clear that our security has been compromised, not improved, by our part in the counter-productive invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.

On nuclear weapons Labour and the Tories are committed to renewing Trident.  The Lib Dems have said they will cancel it but keep a minimum nuclear deterrent.  The Green Party would not only scrap Trident but would decommission the existing system and not renew it.

So the choice is clear.  If you want to commit our country to a secure and peaceful future vote Green.

Afghanistan petition on No.10 website

The media has recently claimed that support for the conflict in Afghanistan has begun to grown.

I find it difficult to believe that more people are swallowing the lies coming out of Downing Street. The claims that staying in Afghanistan will make the UK safer and less likely to be a terrorist target are spurious and misleading.

It is precisely because of our actions in Iraq and Afghanistan that we have become a terrorist target. We must withdraw immediately and put an end to joining NATO and the US in their global conflicts. This is the only guaranteed way to protect the country.

Please consider signing the following petition on the No.10 website, to prove that we do not support the war and call for our troops to be brought home.

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to bring the troops home from Afghanistan. Noting the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, and the destabilisation of Pakistan arising from the NATO military intervention in the region, and believing that only the Afghan people themselves can generate a political solution to their country’s problems, we therefore demand that the government commence the withdrawal of all British military forces from Afghanistan.

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/STWCAfghanistan/

Class snobbery over Afghanistan deaths

Today the news that Lt Col Rupert Thorneloe has died in Afghanistan has been given much coverage because he is the highest ranking officer to die since the Falkland conflict.

It is of course very sad that he has died in battle, but why should his death be treated any differently than the other 170 deaths of UK soldiers in Afghanistan since 2001. Each death in Afghanistan is a tragedy and another reason why we should leave now. We have been bogged down in there for nearly 8 years now, with no sign of an end to the conflict.

I urge Green party members to support the following motion at autumn conference:

C27 Afghanistan
Synopsis (edited) In 2006 the party passed a motion calling for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan and their replacement by UN forces within months (RPD06.1 The Middle East). However, no further policy details were listed.

Motion The war being conducted by the UK and NATO forces in Afghanistan is according to all informed military sources an unwinnable one. Furthermore, it has had the effect of destabilising the entire Afghanistan and Pakistan region, with the consequent danger of the collapse of the Pakistani state itself. It is taking the lives of countless UK troops and diverting resources at a time when the government should be concentrating resources into job creation, health and the educational sector among others. Furthermore, the government supported by NATO and backed by the military forces is widely discredited and corrupt and has lost the trust of the Afghan people. The continuation of the current military intervention increases the risk significantly of a terrorist attack on the UK and a massive increase in refugees fleeing from war and oppression

Since that time the war has escalated and claimed the lives of many more Afghan civilians, UK and other NATO troops, as well as those of civilians working for NGOs. There is now a need to reiterate this call as the war is now being stepped up by the new US administration and there is widely recognised to be a need for a new regional peace agreement, as without the co‐operation of the regional powers, any secure peace and administration will be impossible to secure in Afghanistan.

We therefore call upon GPEx and our elected representatives in the European Parliament to campaign for:

(1) An immediate withdrawal of all UK forces from Afghanistan.
(2) The withdrawal of all NATO forces from Afghanistan .
(3) An regional agreement with the powers bordering Afghanistan – Pakistan, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, together with Russia and China, to hold a peace conference as soon as possible with the aim of establishing a new Afghan government which will have the support of all the Afghan people.
(4) Continued support from the EU, UN and other international bodies to support the rebuilding of Afghanistan and the provision of international aid.
(5) The protection all women and minorities in Afghanistan and the upholding of human rights to be an essential part of any peace agreement reached with the regional powers, the UN and the people of Afghanistan.
(6) The issue of Afghan refugees in neighbouring states and elsewhere, and their long term settlement and humanitarian support to be a central feature of any peace agreement.
(7) And to amend ROPS (Record of Policy Statements) accordingly.

Proposed by: Joseph Healy (**), Andrew Collingwood, Martin Deane, Noel Lynch and two others.