Green Party calls for different approach to crisis
■ Party leaders believe attacks
should be called a crime against
humanity, not war
By Marty Toohey
for the Emerald
The United States should have
waited for an international investi
gation into the Sept. 11 attacks in
stead of attacking Afghanistan, Na
tional Green Party leaders said in a
statement Wednesday.
“We believe the Sept. 11 attacks
should ... be characterized as an in
ternational crime against humanity,
not a war,” the statement said. “A
full investigation, undertaken with
international cooperation, must take
place. ... American declarations of
war inhibit rather than promote this
international cooperation.”
The statement called for careful
scrutiny of all U.S. policies in the
Middle East, as well as lifting of
economic sanctions against Iraq,
which the Green Party said have
caused more than 500,000 Iraqi
civilian deaths. The statement was
also critical of President George W.
Bush’s ordering military action
without congressional approval.
The president, as commander
in-chief, can legally order military
action for 60 days before congres
sional approval is required.
Several Republicans disagree
with the statement. Speaking on be
half of the Republican party, Daryl
Howard, executive director for the
Republican Party of Oregon, said
the Green Party’s understanding of
the situation “is wrong,” and that
“the approach they have presented
is not supported by Americans.”
Howard said the sanctions
should not be lifted until Iraq al
lows inspectors access to facilities
suspected of housing chemical, bi
ological and nuclear weapons.
“If they will let us have access,
then maybe we would take a look
at the whole situation,” he said.
Stan Pulliam, the chairman of
the University’s College Republi
cans, said that lifting the sanctions
would be a “step back as far as pun
ishment” of Iraq, which Pulliam
said may be implicated in the at
tacks.
Both Pulliam and Howard said a
world court will not be an effective
means of bringing Osama bin
Laden to justice.
“Osama bin Laden is not some
one who would react favorably to
walking into a court and letting
them settle things,” Howard said.
Pulliam said he is “not too con
cerned about a world court, which
would have Taliban members.”
“We did not take the offensive,”
Pulliam said. “I find it insulting
(that) they want us to take a step
back when we were the country
that was attacked. We have waited,
gathered evidence and built a
world alliance for more than a
month before our first attack.”
Local and international Greens
support the national party’s state
ment. Blair Bobier, a founder of
the Pacific Green Party, said the
terrorists need to be brought to
justice, but the United States is re
acting too quickly and too violent
ly, and the government’s actions
“sadden me almost as much as the
events on Sept. 11.
“Is killing innocent civilians any
different? It appears the U.S. is do
ing the same thing,” Bobier said.
He also said civilian casualties
will be unavoidable if military ac
tion is taken, regardless of whether
the United States is accompanied
Citv officials address local residents’ anthrax fears
■ FBI says Eugene is an unlikely
target, but residents shouldn’t
open unidentifiable mail
By Lindsay Buchele
Oregon Daily Emerald
The Eugene Police Department
held an emergency press confer
ence Friday to dispel the fears of
Eugene citizens who are worried
about contracting the infectious
disease anthrax.
Eugene Police Chief Jim Hill said
the department received an in
crease in calls Friday from people
concerned about coming in contact
with anthrax.
“People have been noticing pow
dery substances and wondering if it
could be anthrax,” Hill said. “We’re
here to dispel some of their fears.”
With Hill was Dr. Geoff Sim
mons, a representative of 700 doc
tors in Lane County, and FBI Agent
Mike Morrow, who is in charge of
the Eugene office of the FBI.
Simmons said that an anthrax in
fection resembles the flu, with
symptoms appearing anywhere
from one to 45 days after contact
has been made. He said if a person
is experiencing flu symptoms at
this time, they should see their doc
tor for a nose culture to determine
if anthrax is the cause for the symp
toms.
“There is no room for panic,”
Simmons said. “If there is a proba
bility that anthrax is in Eugene, the
federal government will become in
volved.”
Simmons also said there are at
least four antibiotics — in addition
to a vaccine — available to treat the
disease. It is also the most treatable
of all biological weapons.
Oregon has a low threat level for
anthrax to begin with, said Morrow.
“There is no information to sug
gest that there are any targets in
Oregon,” Morrow said. “People
should not be in panic mode.”
Morrow said the best thing for
people to do is be aware. If you
can’t identify a piece of mail, don’t
open it, he said.
EPD spokeswoman Pam Alejan
dre said the EPD communication
center has been overwhelmed with
calls, and that people need to keep
the threat in perspective when call
ing.
None of the reports so far have
turned out to be an anthrax case,
she said.
The EPD and FBI will both con
tinue to be available for reports of
suspicious articles or occurrences,
Hill said.
“We want to reassure the com
munity that we’re working with the
FBI and local health officials when
dealing with this threat,” Hill said.
“We want people to be paying at
tention, but is unlikely that Eugene
is a target.”
Simmons suggests that since the
flu has not yet hit Eugene this sea
son, residents experiencing muscle
aches, fever, headaches or fatigue
should visit their doctor or the ur
gent care unit of Sacred Heart Med
ical Center.
Lindsay Buchele is the community editor for
the Oregon Daily Emerald. She can be reached
atlindsaybuchele@dailyemerald.com.
by international forces.
“Military action certainly didn’t
work when the U.S. went (into
Panama) to get Noriega,” he said.
Pekka Haavisto, spokesman for
the European Federation of Green
Parties, said explosions at U.S. em
bassies in Kenya and Tanzania in
August 1998 and the October 2000
suicide attack on the USS Cole
were indicators of the Middle East’s
feelings toward the United States.
He also said the creation of a Unit
ed Nations world police force is
necessary.
“An eye for eye, and soon the
whole world will be blind,” Haav
isto said. “We are not heading to the
old-style Wild West — dead or
alive — but to a world with justice
and strong international laws.”
Marty Toohey is a freelance reporter for the
Emerald.
University Events
Tuesday, Oct. 16
Workshops: Academic Learning
Services presents “Get Savvy,” a
week of events focused on student
success. The events begin Tuesday
with workshops throughout the day,
including “Succeeding at the UO:
Lessons from Harry Potter” at noon
in the EMU’s Metoiius Room and
“Essay Exams: Beyond the BS" at 1
p.m. in the EMU’s Owyhee Room.
Free. Events continue through
Friday. For a complete schedule and
more information, call 346-3226 or
visit http://ais.uoregon.edu/.
Wednesday, Oct. 17
Wednesdays at Noon: S. Marie Harvey,
associate director of the Center for the
Study of Women in Society, presents
“CSWS Grants Workshop.” Noon. 330
Hendricks. Free.
Anthrax
continued from page 1
summer, said FBI spokeswoman
Judy Orihuela.
Alshehhi was aboard the second
jet to strike the World Trade Center.
Alghamdi was on the flight that
crashed 80 miles southeast of Pitts
burgh.
But Orihuela said the FBI wasn’t
drawing immediate conclusions.
“Right now it looks like a coinci
dence,” Orihuela said from outside
the tabloid’s Boca Raton headquar
ters. “We are not searching the
apartment at this time. We are fo
cusing on this building.”
In other developments Sunday,
three more anthrax exposures were
reported from a letter received at
012708,
DATE RAPE
DRUG VICTIM
• Are you a female victim
of date rape drugs?
• Were you raped in the
downtown Eugene area?
• Do you believe you may
have been videotaped?
I WAS TOO.
I'd like to talk to you. Please
call this number and let me
know how I might contact you.
BE AS ANONYMOUS
AS YOU NEED TO BE,
BUT PLEASE CALL.
607-8091
NBC in New York, and four Mi
crosoft workers who came in contact
with a contaminated letter in Neva
da tested negative for infection. The
exposures in New York were to a po
lice officer who handled the letter,
and two lab technicians.
In South Florida, the apartment
connection marks the most direct
link to date between the terrorist hi
jackers and the AMI anthrax cases.
The Delray apartment in ques
tion is central to a massive federal
investigation into the terrorist at
tacks. Two terrorists, Alshehhi and
Alghamdi, rented the apartment in
Delray Beach just north of Boca Ra
ton, the FBI said. The other seven,
including suspected ringleader Mo
hamed Atta, are connected because
they visited the apartment or other
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tants, said a federal official familiar
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In addition to Stevens and the
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ties said that none displayed
symptoms, and all were being
treated with antibiotics.
As a search for clues continues in
South Florida and the number of an
thrax exposures grows across the
country, investigators and experts are
grappling with whether the cases are
the work of the Sept. 11 terrorists.
One of the nation’s leading bio
logical warfare researchers said
Sunday that the appearance of mul
tiple anthrax infections suggests the
possibility of a bioterrorist attack.
“The level of suspicion is high for
me, though it’s still open for me
whether it’s a bioterrorist attack,”
said C.J. Peters, former chief of spe
cial pathogens at the CDC in At
lanta. Peters, now a professor of mi
crobiology and coauthor of the 1997
book “Virus Hunter,” said his suspi
cion may turn to certainty if strains
of the bacteria found in Florida,
New York and Nevada are the same.
A federal official familiar with
the investigation into the attacks
said that prior to the New York ex
posures, investigators were treating
the Boca Raton incident as an “iso
lated criminal case.”
But with the New York and
Nevada cases, the same official
shifted gears: “Maybe there is a
concerted conspiracy connected to
the Sept. 11 attacks.”
Herald Staff Writers Larry Lebowitz, William
Yardley and Johnny Diaz and Herald wire
services contributed to this report. © 2001,
The Miami Herald. Distributed by Knight
Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
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