Locke urges Govt: ‘Stand up to Bush’

The Green Party is calling on the Government to take a more pro-active role in standing up for international human rights’ conventions than it did in the first term of George W. Bush’s presidency.

“America has voted and the rest of the world now has to live with their choice,” said Green Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Keith Locke. “But after four years of illegal aggression, contempt for international conventions and abuse of human rights we can’t allow Bush to continue setting the agenda.

“New Zealanders, like most people, we were appalled by the carnage of 11th September. However, we now know that Bush’s response to that outrage - invasion, occupation, suspension of basic civil liberties - has only increased tension and led to more terrorist attacks.

“We should no longer allow Bush’s ‘war on terrorism’ to set an agenda that so severely curtails individual freedoms. We can’t tolerate more Guantanamo Bays and Abu Ghraibs.

“We must join with other countries in a concerted attempt to stop Bush’s Star Wars programme, and his attempts to undermine the Kyoto climate change convention.

“We can take a lead, in the UN and elsewhere, to help curb the worst excesses of the White House. The rest of the world must be left in no doubt that we, unlike Howard’s Australia, aren’t just another of George Bush’s ‘South Pacific deputies’.”

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