FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Sept. 10, 2005
Contact: Matt Thieke, 609-330-6552
www.MattThieke.com

GREEN CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR CALLS FOR RETURN OF N.J. TROOPS FROM IRAQ,
AS PART OF 'HOMELAND SECURITY' PLAN

On the eve of the fourth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, Green Party gubernatorial candidate Matt Thieke today outlined his ideas for homeland security, including a call for the return of New Jersey National Guard troops from Iraq.

"While the war in Iraq may not seem like an issue for a gubernatorial campaign," said Thieke "the fact is that we are now less secure here at home because the Bush administration has wasted such vast resources, both in lives lost and in billions of dollars spent, on that unnecessary, illegal war. We in the Green Party knew there was no connection between Iraq and the 9/11 attacks, and we didn't buy the president's lies about Iraq's non-existent weapons of 'mass destruction'. As governor, I will act to bring all N.J. National Guard troops home from Iraq. Homeland security begins at home. We have busy seaports, airports and bridges to guard. As well as chemical plants, oil refineries and nuclear power plants." As part of his platform, Thieke called for shutting down the Oyster Creek and Salem nuclear plants, "Not only is nuclear power bad for the environment, it's also too dangerous a target for terrorism."

Thieke criticized the federal government's response to Hurricane Katrina as "slow and inept" and again drew parallels to the war in Iraq, saying "As we have seen this week, we had thousands of National Guard troops from Louisiana and Mississippi who, because they were in Iraq, couldn't rescue their neighbors at home. The government cut the budgets for FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers flood control projects in order to spend hundreds of billions for a war in Iraq and contracts for Halliburton. As a result, we were less prepared for either a natural or man-made disaster."

Thieke continued, "We can also protect ourselves without having to give up our rights and freedoms. As governor, I would oppose the USA PATRIOT Act. We cannot condone imprisonment without trial, domestic spying, torture, or censorship. Ultimately, the best form of homeland security would be to change our nation's foreign policy of undermining democracy and supporting dictatorships in other countries. Millions of people in the Third World hate us, not because of our freedoms or form of government, but because we meddle in their affairs until we control their governments and natural resources for our own benefit. In no way does this condone terrorism or any forms of violence, and I long to see Osama Bin Laden brought to justice. However, the support for terrorism in other nations will dry up when our collective actions no longer instill resentment in the world, and we do unto others as we would have them do unto us."