There is a lot of disenchantment with each major party in the United States as more and more people therefore consider what a third party candidate may have to offer the nation. The Green Party platform states "Our nation was born as the first great experiment in modern democracy. We seek to rescue that heritage from the erosion of citizen participation." After years of financial stagnation along with rising unemployment, poverty, and homelessness more voters across the United States than ever before appear interested in what the Green Party candidates may have to offer.
The Green Party has taken the position that the Obama administrations confrontational policies in dealing with Iran are costly and should be reviewed. In a recent press release the Green Party stated "Green Party to President Obama: Hands off Iran; work for a Middle East free of nuclear weapons and restore good will with the people of Iran". Green Party candidates and leaders have said that the US must avoid a military confrontation with Iran by diplomacy based on the goal of making the Middle East and Asia of free of nuclear weapons, including Israel, Pakistan, and India. The Green Party is strongly in opposition of a military attack on Iran, a country that the party feels poses no threat to the US. The Greens have compared the misleading rhetoric which is now being used to attack Iran with the Bush Administration's fraudulent justifications for a war on Iraq nearly ten years ago.
Jill Stein, a candidate for the Green Party's 2012 presidential nomination, has said "The threats of an assault on Iran by Israel or the U.S., or both, are igniting tensions that could erupt into a larger conflict. If we object to Iran's nuclear ambitions, the first step in resolving these tensions is to recognize that no nation has a 'right' to possess nuclear weapons. The possession of such weapons by any country in the region is a motivation for other countries to obtain them as well, and Iran has unfriendly nuclear nations on either side, being Israel and Pakistan. The United States should press Iran's neighbors to divest themselves of their nuclear arsenals and to use such pressure as the basis for good-faith negotiation with Iran."
Michael Canney, a Florida Green and member of the Green Party's International Committee has said "Although Iran's government is a repressive theocracy that has silenced dissent, it poses no current threat to the U.S. The US's own belligerence, under the Bush and Obama administrations, has resulted in wars on three Muslim countries (Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya), drone attacks on Pakistan, and support for Israel's attacks on Palestinians. If the US launches an attack on Iran or supports an attack by Israel, it will serve to further discredit the US as an honest broker in the region and will exacerbate an already explosive situation." It appears as if the Green Party has a position on the sensitive issue of U.S./Iran relations which is worth considering.
Mandel News Service
