WW News Service Digest #347
1) Pentagon Extends U.S. Empire in Asia
by wwnews
2) What the War Costs
by wwnews
3) Win for Charleston 5 Dock Workers
by wwnews
4) Conditions Worsen for Political Prisoners
by wwnews
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Nov. 22, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
WITH TERROR BOMBING OF AFGHANISTAN: PENTAGON
EXTENDS U.S. EMPIRE IN ASIA
By Fred Goldstein
The lead stories of all the big business media are
expressing qualified satisfaction at the "remarkable
progress" made by the Northern Alliance forces in taking
control over northern Afghanistan. The gloating is mixed
with worry over the political and diplomatic fallout that
arises from this narrow group of mercenary warlords being in
Kabul.
The hypocrisy of the applause for the "progress" of the
Northern Alliance and the "worry" over their tendency for
murder and revenge are pure Pentagon propaganda.
After five weeks of merciless U.S. bombing of an
impoverished, war-ravaged country--which has no army, had 16
planes on the ground at the start of the war, and is cut off
from all sources of supply by a U.S.-imposed cordon--the
Taliban were forced to retreat from the northern region.
Whether this represents a general rout of the Taliban or a
strategic retreat--to be followed by regrouping and
resistance in the southern cities or protracted guerrilla
war in the countryside--remains to be seen.
But whatever happens, the result is primarily a function of
the extraordinary terror unleashed upon a relatively
defenseless country by the strongest imperialist military
power in the world.
EVERY TYPE OF BOMB
Washington Post military columnist William Arkin wrote on
Nov.12 that "a total of 6,000 bombs and missiles have been
dropped to date ... more than 2,300 of these weapons have
been satellite-guided Joint Direct Attack Munitions. The
military is expending these new weapons at such a high rate-
about 100 a day-that there is a virtual panic that the U.S.
will eventually deplete its inventory. Five-hundred-pound
laser-guided bombs, mostly being dropped by the Navy, have
also been in short supply."
Aside from the sheer volume of bombs that have been dropped
on cities and villages, the front lines of the Taliban
forces have been pummeled with B-52 carpet bombing,
including massive numbers of cluster bombs.
A CBU-87 cluster bomb, described as one of the "most
controversial weapons in the world," is used to kill people
and disable armored vehicles. Each bomb sheds 200 bomblets
the size of a soda can. Each bomblet produces 2,000 high-
velocity shrapnel fragments.
In addition to cluster bombs, the Pentagon dropped two
"daisy cutters" on the Taliban front lines. A BLU-82 daisy
cutter is the world's largest conventional bomb. It was used
in Vietnam to instantaneously clear jungle to create
helicopter landing strips, as well as to terrorize the
liberation forces. It is filled with 15,000 pounds of fuel.
It detonates three feet off the ground in 27 seconds after
being dropped and incinerates everything for 650 yards, or
the size of six football fields. These bombs were used in
Iraq during the Gulf War for psychological terror to force
the Iraqi government to capitulate.
Another terror weapon employed is the C-130 gunship, which
has two 20mm guns that fire 6,600 rounds per minute, a 7.6mm
cannon that fires 3,000 rounds per minute, a 40mm cannon
that fires 100 rounds per minute, and a 105mm howitzer, all
guided by computer. They can fire at two targets at the same
time and destroy whole buildings.
Small wonder that the warlords of the Northern Alliance made
"progress."
NORTHERN ALLIANCE A FIG LEAF
These puppets did not move until after the U.S. bombing and
until they were fully supplied by Washington. According to
the New York Times of Nov. 12, "Alliance forces, which have
been crippled by supply problems, appeared to have fuel and
ammunition to carry out at least a short offensive. Tank
crews reported they have 60 rounds of ammunition and 1,000
liters of gasoline, far more than they had a week ago.
Infantry assault squads had 10 rocket-propelled grenades,
450 rounds of heavy machine gun ammunition and 120 rifle
bullets each."
The Alliance advanced under cover of B-52 bombers and close
air support of U.S. fighter jets. Furthermore, they advanced
on cities that had been largely abandoned by the Taliban
forces prior to so-called takeovers. So the Northern
Alliance is a fig leaf to cover the naked intervention by
Washington as a would-be conqueror.
The real nature of these seizures has not been revealed. Not
one correspondent has been allowed by the military into
Mazar-e-Sharif. There have been reports of mass executions
of Pakistanis by the Northern Alliance. Furthermore, no one
knows what the participation of U.S. or British forces has
been in organizing the bandit armies.
This massive push by the Pentagon, with the Northern
Alliance entering Kabul, has created major political
problems for Washington's diplomacy. It is extraordinarily
difficult to come up with a regime that is internally viable
and acceptable to Pakistan, Iran, Russia and the U.S.
While Secretary of State Colin Powell was struggling to hold
Pakistan in line and at the same time arrange a new puppet
regime, the Pentagon generals decided it was militarily
necessary to gain some type of victory. It could not be
postponed, particularly as Ramadan was approaching. So they
plunged ahead.
THREAT TO CHINA
If the U.S. imperialists are able to conquer Afghanistan, it
would be a major setback for the world--but not because the
Taliban are a revolutionary or progressive force in any way
beneficial to the Afghan people. On the contrary. But they
are fighting imperialism.
If the U.S. government and the Pentagon are able to have
their way, then, when the smoke clears, Washington will have
expanded militarily and politically into Afghanistan,
Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan, and will have
reoriented Pakistan. It will have advanced to forward
positions in Central Asia that can dominate this militarily
and economically strategic location. And it will ultimately
impose another reactionary regime on Afghanistan that will
oppress the people.
It will not only have greater domination over the oil in the
area, but will be in a stronger position to threaten the
People's Republic of China. Before Sept. 11, the Bush
administration was building an anti-China cordon, along with
its policy of engagement. That policy of fundamental
hostility to the socialist regime of the PRC, no matter how
far China has traveled in a capitalist direction, remains.
And so does the strategy of military pressure.
If the U.S. campaign in Afghanistan succeeds, it will only
intensify the threat to China and all the countries of the
region--even if the highly dangerous consent of the PRC
government to the U.S. adventure is merely lip service.
The struggle is not over, however. The Pentagon must aim at
southern Afghan istan. In the battle for the south, the
Northern Alliance forces, in addition to being overextended,
would have to enter hostile territory. The U.S. and British
imperialists may have to put forces on the ground and be
vulnerable to guerrilla warfare or other forms of
resistance. The CIA is working overtime to try to foment an
uprising against the Taliban in the south. How far they will
get is an unknown.
TALIBAN'S WEAKNESS
In this struggle the Taliban's greatest weakness flows from
its reactionary character.
Many of its older leaders were schooled in the struggle
against the socialist regime that came to power in 1978 and
tried to bring about the most progressive reforms in the
history of Afghanistan, including defending women's rights.
Many fought against the Soviet Red Army, which was trying to
defend that government against the civil war organized by
the CIA and world imperialism.
Of course, the military pressure is enormous. And to be
sure, even the most revolutionary government would be hard
pressed to survive the Penta gon's massive assault, backed
by the rest of world imperialism, under conditions of a
total blockade and pre-existing poverty and devastation.
But having forcibly imposed a medieval ideology and customs
upon the masses under their control, many of whom don't
agree; having reduced women, one half the population, to
being chattel, or virtual slaves; having tried to deny
society any of the modern amenities of life in its zeal to
resist imperialist culture; and having no economic or social
program that can deal with the poverty and devastation of
the country, the Taliban have limited the prospects for
mobilizing mass resistance. They are in a truly
contradictory position as they fight U.S. imperialism.
Nevertheless, for the world movement, and for the people of
Afghanistan, the worst possible result would be for
Washington, the Pentagon and ultimately Wall Street to
overrun this area and bolster their program for world
domination.
- END -
(Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to
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From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> (wwnews)
Date: torstai 15. marraskuu 2001 07:53
Subject: [WW] What the War Costs
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Nov. 22, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
WHAT THE WAR COSTS
The war is costing about $1 billion a month. This will rise,
says the New York Times of Nov. 12.
"The cost of the conflict has risen almost daily as the
United States has expanded its military presence in and
around Afghanistan, officials said. And in the coming weeks,
military planners say they anticipate sharply rising
expenses for things like upgrading airfields in Central Asia
to handle American transport planes and fighter jets,
increasing numbers of bombs dropped each day over
Afghanistan and deploying additional aircraft and ground
troops to the region."
The breakdown includes:
"Nearly 55,000 Guard and Reserve forces have been called to
active duty at a cost of about $200 million a month, but
those numbers could double within months, Pentagon officials
have said.
"F-18 and F-14 fighters jets ... are flying longer and more
often than usual, typically 30 to 40 sorties a day. Their
missions over Afghanistan last six hours on average, at a
cost of more than $5,500 per hour, the Pentagon said.
"There are also KC-135 tanker planes that are constantly
airborne over Europe, Central Asia and the Mediterranean to
refuel fighters and transports en route to the war zone. And
a handful of land-based bombers-B-1's, B-2's and B-52's-have
participated in the daily attacks, at a cost of more than
$10,000 per hour each. B-2 missions, which originate in
Missouri, can last 34 hours.
"Munitions, ranging from 500-pound gravity bombs that cost
$1,000 each to 2,000-pound laser-guided bombs that cost
$80,000 each. The United States has dropped 6,000 bombs and
missiles, including about 100 Tomahawk cruise missiles that
cost nearly $1 million each."
As the Pentagon escalates the war, unemployment and
homelessness rise, and the rich start enjoying huge tax
breaks, billions more will be taken from social services of
all kinds, including Social Security.
--F.G.
- END -
(Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to
copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but
changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
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From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> (wwnews)
Date: torstai 15. marraskuu 2001 07:53
Subject: [WW] Win for Charleston 5 Dock Workers
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Nov. 22, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
FREE AT LAST: WIN FOR CHARLESTON 5 DOCK WORKERS
By Stephanie Hedgecoke
Member, New York Typographical Union Local 6
After a tremendous outpouring of global support, the
embattled Charleston 5 longshore workers obtained
settlements of their cases one week before a scheduled Nov.
14 trial.
They had faced over five years in jail on felony charges.
With the settlements, they paid $100 fines on misdemeanor
charges.
"The Charleston 5 are finally free," announced Ken Riley,
International Longshore Association Local 1422 president.
"This is a tremendous victory for the labor movement in
South Carolina."
The case arose in January 2000 when two predominantly
African-American ILA union locals engaged in a struggle to
protect their port jurisdiction after the Danish-owned
Nordana Lines employed non-union dock workers to unload
cargo in Charleston, S.C.
This happened soon after the union had participated in a
mass demonstration against the Confederate flag flying over
the statehouse, arousing the ire of right-wing political
forces in the state. Riley, who is African American, had
been a leader in the fight to bring that hated symbol of
slavery down from the statehouse.
Locals 1422 and 1771 threw up legal informational picket
lines at the non-union ship. Some 600 heavily armed
Charleston police, using armored vehicles, horses and
helicopters, assaulted the 130 union members. Many of the
workers, including Riley, were injured.
The state of South Carolina joined the racist attack with
felony indictments of four Black and one white unionist:
Jason Edgerton, Elijah Ford Jr., Kenneth Jefferson, Ricky
Simmons and Peter Washington Jr. The five longshore workers
were kept under house arrest awaiting trial. They could only
go out to work and attend union meetings.
South Carolina has the second-lowest rate of unionized
workers in the country. The state and the dock bosses
probably thought they could bust the longshore union. They
didn't foresee the potential for an anti-racist, pro-worker
solidarity struggle.
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) on
the West Coast initiated a global solidarity movement. The
momentum spread.
Riley spoke before meetings and demonstrations across the
country, from the San Francisco Bay Area to Detroit to New
York. Labor activists around the world donated over $400,000
to the ILA legal defense fund.
In South Carolina and around the region, bright yellow
billboards, bumper stickers and signs proclaimed: "Free the
Charleston 5!" Unionists accused South Caro lina Attorney
General Charlie Condon of having issued the indictments to
further his campaign for state governor.
Once the movement swelled on the rank-and-file level, the
national AFL-CIO leadership came on board, mobilizing for a
June 9, 2001, demonstration in Columbia, S.C. Some 5,000
union activists converged in Columbia for the solidarity
event.
It was one of the biggest union demonstrations in the South
in many years. The AFL-CIO then called for a National Day of
Action on Nov. 14, the trial date.
On Oct. 15, after almost two years, the five were released
from house arrest. Then came news that Condon was bowing out
of the case.
Riley said the victory of the Charleston 5 will lend weight
to organizing in South Carolina, adding, "We will build on
this victory to bring greater attention to the plight of
working men and women in our state."
- END -
(Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to
copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but
changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to:
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From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> (wwnews)
Date: torstai 15. marraskuu 2001 07:53
Subject: [WW] Conditions Worsen for Political Prisoners
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Nov. 22, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
CONDITIONS WORSEN AFTER SEPT. 11: U.S. POLITICAL
PRISONERS NEED SUPPORT
By Greg Butterfield
The plight of political prisoners in U.S. jails has grown
more serious since Sept. 11. The prisoners' defense
committees are urging progressives to stay involved in their
struggles while organizing to stop the U.S. war in
Afghanistan.
The Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the
Pentagon had direct consequences for some prisoners, while
others have suffered from the stepped-up repression and
racism.
Black revolutionary Sundiata Acoli has been held virtually
incommunicado since Sept. 11. Courts and prosecutors are
working feverishly to suppress new evidence of Mumia Abu-
Jamal's innocence while the public's attention is focused
elsewhere. In Texas-the U.S. execution capital under former
Gov. George W. Bush-political activist Emerson Rudd is
scheduled to die in mid-November.
Leonard Peltier has launched a new bid for release 25 years
after his wrongful conviction, while another Native
activist, Eddie Hatcher, suffers declining health and
mistreatment. Chicago activist Fred Hampton Jr., freed for
"good behavior" after nearly a decade in prison, continues
his fight to have false charges removed from his record.
LEGAL LYNCHINGS CONTINUE
Supporters of Pennsylvania death-row prisoner MUMIA ABU-
JAMAL have scheduled three days of actions for the weekend
of Dec. 7-9, which is the 20th anniversary of the incident
that resulted in his frame-up for the killing of
Philadelphia cop Daniel Faulkner. Abu-Jamal's defenders
charge that local prosecutors, government officials and the
courts are conspiring to stop lawyers from entering new
evidence. Self-described mob hitman Arnold Beverly has
confessed on videotape to killing Faulkner, but the court
has yet to hear his statement.
The International Concerned Family & Friends of Mumia Abu-
Jamal urge supporters to come to Philadelphia on Saturday,
Dec. 8, for a march and rally, or organize a local protest,
teach-in or press conference for Abu-Jamal on Dec. 8-9.
Student walkouts are planned for Dec. 7. For more
information, visit the web site www.mumia.org or call (215)
476-8812.
Political activist EMERSON RUDD, chair of Panthers United
for Revolutionary Education (PURE) on Texas death row, is
scheduled to be executed Nov. 15. Rudd was barely 17 when he
was arrested and charged with murder. Two other Black
activists have been killed by Texas since March 2000: PURE
member Ponchai "Kamau" Wilkerson and Shaka Sankofa/Gary
Graham.
About his activities as a political organizer, Rudd said: "I
have not allowed the system to destroy my mind. I have tried
to keep integrity and human dignity." To sign your name to
an appeal to the Texas governor, e-mail
[EMAIL PROTECTED] To join in protests, call the Texas
Death Penalty Abolition Movement at (713) 523-8454.
SUNDIATA IN ISOLATION SINCE 9-11
Former Black Panther SUNDIATA ACOLI has been held in
isolation since Sept. 11 at Pennsylvania's Allenwood Federal
Prison. He was not allowed to contact his lawyers until late
October.
After receiving Acoli's call, attorneys Jill Elijah and
Chris Bergen reported: "The prison administration stated
that Sundiata and 15 others were rounded up because they
were anti-government type people and/or they had explosives
in their past. When the others were sent back, Sundiata was
kept in segregation. He was told by the administration that
he would be held for a while because he was a member of the
Black Panther Party.
"He cannot go outside at all, he is constantly confined to
his cell. The prison administration is telling Sundiata that
he may be in segregation longer because he got a suspicious
package at the post office and it may be anthrax. Sundiata
states that he is not sick and he is not being physically
abused."
Supporters are asked to call Counselor Odo and Warden Jake
Mendez at (570) 547-0963 to inquire about his health and
when he will be released from isolation. Letters of concern
can be sent to Warden Mendez and Counselor Odo at PO Box
3500, USP Allenwood, White Deer, PA 17887. Please send a
copy of your letter to Sundiata Acoli #39794-066, PO Box
3000, USP Allenwood, White Deer, PA 17887.
Acoli, one of the longest-held political prisoners in the
U.S., was arrested in 1973 with Assata Shakur. Shakur later
gained her freedom in Cuba. For updates, visit
www.afrikan.net/sundiata.
FRED HAMPTON JR., a Black activist and the son of legendary
Black Panther leader Fred Hampton, was released from
Statesville Correctional Facility in Illinois on Sept. 14
after serving eight years in prison. Hampton was convicted
of committing arson at a Chicago store in 1992-during a
demonstration in solidarity with the Los Angeles rebellion
that followed the Rodney King verdict.
Supporters say the arson charge is a lie and that Hampton
was framed by vengeful Chicago authorities. While Hampton is
now free and has resumed his political activities, he
continues to fight for full clemency. Letters supporting
clemency should be sent to Gov. George Ryan, State of
Illinois, 207 State House Road, Springfield, IL 62706, or
faxed to (217) 524-4049.
For more information, visit www.npdum.com.
PELTIER FILES FOR SENTENCE REDUCTION
During the last days of his administration, Pre si dent Bill
Clinton granted numerous pardons to crooked associates and
campaign donors. But Clinton refused to pardon American
Indian Movement warrior LEONARD PELTIER-despite an
international campaign urging him to do the right thing and
release the Native activist after 25 years of wrongful
imprisonment.
Now Peltier, whose health has been in decline for several
years, is trying another tack. On Nov. 2, attorney Eric
Seitz filed a motion for reduction of Peltier's two life
sentences from consecutive to concurrent. "We believe a
reduction would obligate the Parole Commission to grant
Leonard Peltier's release," says a statement from the
Leonard Peltier Defense Committee.
Peltier was convicted of killing two FBI agents during a
shoot-out at the Pine Ridge Reservation in 1975. A federal
prosecutor later admitted he had no idea who shot the
agents.
"Please contact your senators and representatives and
request they urge the Department of Justice not to oppose
the motion," the statement continues. Senators and
representatives can be contacted through the Capitol
Switchboard at (202) 224-3121. Talking points are available
from the LPDC at (785) 842-5774 or www.freepeltier.org.
Another Native political activist, EDDIE HATCHER, is in
urgent need of support, according to his sister Ginger
Ammerman. "Eddie is not doing well right now," she wrote.
"He has lost an excessive amount of weight. He is being
singled out, harassed and intimidated daily." Hatcher is
imprisoned at the Marion Correctional Institute in North
Carolina.
Hatcher was charged with first-degree murder for the 1999
drive-by shooting of his friend Brian McMillan. "I was
appalled by the weakness of the evidence in the Hatcher
case," said former Raleigh News and Observer reporter Anne
Russell, "the willingness of the jury to be easily and
quickly led by an over-zealous prosecutor, and I left the
courtroom 99 percent convinced that an innocent man might be
put to death."
He was later sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Supporters are asked to call and write letters demanding
information on Hatcher's condition and whereabouts; an end
to his 22-hour-a-day lockdown; an end to harassment by
prison staff; and to let officials know that "the world is
watching." Address protests to Sid Harkeleroad,
Superintendent, Marion Correctional Institute, Marion, NC
28752 or call (828) 659-6814.
For more on Hatcher's case and updates on his condition,
visit the Web site www.eddiehatcher.org.
- END -
(Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to
copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but
changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to:
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