WW News Service Digest #360
1) Danger of U.S. war against Iraq grows
by WW
2) Koreans attacked in Japan see link to U.S. propaganda
by WW
3) International forum denounces U.S. war
by WW
4) Chile police attack Communist Party office
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Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Dec. 13, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
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HAWKS AND VULTURES:
DANGER OF U.S. WAR AGAINST IRAQ GROWS
By John Catalinotto
The Bush administration is closer to moving aggressively
against Iraq, according to many reports. The anti-war
movement here needs to be alert to the danger of a new war
against Iraq.
Such a war would undoubtedly involve large numbers of U.S.
ground forces and the potential for heavy U.S. casualties,
which could arouse strong anti-war sentiment in this
country. And even if Washington failed in its objective to
overthrow the Baghdad government and replace it with a
client regime, such a war would inflict additional horrors
on the already suffering Iraqi people.
The latest round of Iraq baiting began Nov. 26, when
President George W. Bush told reporters, "Afghanistan is
still just the beginning." He demanded that Iraq allow
"inspectors" into the country--or else.
The last time these inspectors were inside Iraq they
conducted military spying for the United States. Former
inspection leader Scott Ritter has publicly admitted this
many times.
Bush could point to no connection between Iraq and the Sept.
11 attacks. Nor could he tie Iraq to the anthrax threat. But
none of that mattered. The president said, "If you develop
weapons of mass destruction that you want to terrorize the
world, you'll be held accountable."
U.S. imperialists--who wield the mightiest weapons of mass
destruction on the planet-- use the phrase "weapons of mass
destruction" to make it seem as though Iraq is the
oppressor, not the Pentagon.
HAWKS AND VULTURES
The Dec. 3 New York Times reported that a grouping "inside
and outside the administration" is leading the drive toward
war with Iraq. They include old Cold War figures like
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Deputy Defense Secretary
Paul Wolfowitz, retired Gen. Wayne Downing--the president's
counter-terrorism chief--and I. Lewis Libby, the vice
president's chief of staff.
This group wants to use U.S. force to put a puppet Iraqi
grouping in power.
Also included in the grouping are Henry Kissinger, former
Vice President Dan Quayle and former CIA head James Woolsey--
all part of the 18-member Defense Policy Board.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is part of this gang. As
far as Gingrich is concerned, "the 'Saddam is evil and
dangerous' side seems to be winning." In other words,
Gingrich thinks his more aggressive grouping has the
initiative.
The opponents of this group are not exactly doves. Secretary
of State Colin Powell and retired Gen. Anthony Zinni are
among them. They are for aggressively pursuing the war
against Afghanistan. However, they believe that Washington
and the Pentagon will overreach themselves if they try to
take on a new war against Iraq at this time.
WILL U.S. BE ISOLATED?
They also know that this war has little support among many
of the forces in Europe that support the United States in
Afghanistan, and that Washington may find itself fighting
Iraq alone.
The real debate about whether to wage war on Iraq is carried
out behind closed doors, with no pretense of an open
discussion that includes the mass of the U.S. population.
Meanwhile, both sides of this ruling-class debate try to
keep the country on a war footing.
Many British newspapers report that French President Jacques
Chirac, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and even British
Prime Minister Tony Blair have let Washington know they
oppose an attack on Iraq at this time.
Whether this will turn into real resistance to U.S. plans,
however, is doubtful. During NATO's war against Yugoslavia,
for example, the United States was able to impose its
strategy of bombing civilian targets in Serbia despite some
objections from its European imperialist allies.
EUROPEANS SEE SHIFT IN U.S. POLICY
The Dec. 2 issue of the British newspaper The Observer was
headlined "Secret U.S. Plan for Iraq War." The paper
reported that the United States "intends to depose Saddam
Hussein by giving armed support to Iraqi opposition forces
across the country."
According to this article, the U.S. plan "envisages a
combined operation with U.S. bombers targeting key military
installations while U.S. forces assist opposition groups in
the North and South of the country in a stage-managed
uprising. One version of the plan would have U.S. forces
fighting on the ground."
While this scenario is still in the planning stage, people
like Denis Halliday and Hans von Sponek--both former heads
of the United Nations-run "Oil for Peace" program for Iraq--
take the threat to Iraq seriously.
Halliday and von Sponek wrote an article in the Nov. 29
issue of the British newspaper The Guardian that began: "A
major shift is occurring in U.S. policy on Iraq. It is
obvious that Washington wants to end 11 years of a self-
serving policy of containment of the Iraqi regime and change
to a policy of replacing, by force, Saddam Hussein and his
government.
"The current policy of economic sanctions has destroyed
society in Iraq and caused the death of thousands, young and
old. There is evidence of that daily in reports from
reputable international organizations such as Caritas,
Unicef and Save the Children. A change to a policy of
replacement by force will increase that suffering."
The two also noted that "the U.S. Defense Department, and
Richard Butler, former head of the UN arms inspection team
in Baghdad, would prefer Iraq to have been behind the
anthrax scare. But they had to recognize that it had its
origin within the U.S."
They added, "British and U.S. intelligence agencies know
well that Iraq is qualitatively disarmed," thereby answering
Bush's charge of "weapons of mass destruction" as an excuse
for waging aggressive war on Iraq.
If the administration makes up its mind to go to war,
however, it will manufacture the excuse. The anti-war
movement here will have to be on guard to expose the lies
and stop the imperialist war.
- END -
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From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> (WW)
Date: keskiviikko 12. joulukuu 2001 04:19
Subject: [WW] Koreans attacked in Japan see link to U.S. propaganda
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Dec. 13, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
KOREANS ATTACKED IN JAPAN SEE LINK TO U.S. PROPAGANDA
By Deirdre Griswold
It's called scapegoating. It happens in every big capitalist
economic crisis, when the irrationalities of the capitalist
system catch up with life and things begin spinning out of
control. Someone has to be blamed, and the bosses make sure
that their politicians and their press don't blame them.
In Japan today, scapegoating for the years-long shrinkage of
the economy is being directed against the Korean community,
which has long been the target of discrimination. There are
700,000 Korean Japanese, the largest ethnic minority in the
country and the legacy of the days when Japan annexed Korea
as its colony. Most of them are sympathetic to the socialist
Democratic People's Republic of Korea in the north, and
recognize its role in leading the Korean people's resistance
to Japanese colonialism and U.S. imperialist domination.
On Nov. 29, hundreds of Japanese police launched a multi-
pronged attack on the General Association of Korean
Residents in Japan (Chongryon), ransacking its offices in
the Tokyo area and arresting 15 of its leaders. The
treasurer of the organization was arrested while in the
hospital and transferred to a jail cell.
The police also raided 47 different Korean establishments,
including banks and savings and loan organizations. These
have been a major financial asset for the Korean community
in Japan, since Japanese banking institutions have "red-
lined" Koreans, denying them business or personal loans.
The government is using a propaganda line taken from George
W. Bush to justify its repression. Borrowing from
Washington's language about the DPRK, it claims that the
besieged country of North Korea, which has nearly 40,000
U.S. troops on its borders and is constantly under a nuclear
threat from the U.S., is a "terrorist" nation, and that
Korean Japanese who visit there or try to help out their
families are financing terrorism.
Japan has been in a financial crisis. Many banks have closed
down and people are frightened of what will come next, now
that the U.S. market is also shrinking. This attack on
Korean-owned banking institutions is an attempt to divert
the public's anxiety away from the Japanese ruling class and
somehow link the bank failures to Koreans who, they say,
have channeled money to the DPRK.
The whole scenario is pure fantasy, similar to the right-
wing myths in the U.S. that blame people on welfare for the
nation's economic ills. Koreans in Japan, like the oppressed
everywhere, do not control the basic levers of the economy.
But, by scraping together their savings, they have been able
to set up some small banks that serve their community.
When they can, Japanese Koreans visit the DPRK to renew
their heritage. Just two years ago, a highly talented group
of young Korean Japanese who had studied in North Korea gave
a stellar performance of traditional Korean folk songs at
New York's Lincoln Center.
This attack is yet another indication that extreme
reactionary forces all over the world are taking advantage
of the right-wing climate created by the Bush
administration's war drive in Central Asia.
- END -
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From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> (WW)
Date: keskiviikko 12. joulukuu 2001 04:19
Subject: [WW] International forum denounces U.S. war
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Dec. 13, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
INTERNATIONAL FORUM DENOUNCES U.S. WAR
Special to Workers World
Madrid, Spain
Representatives of sectors of the Spanish progressive
movement, countries and movements Washington has threatened
in its so-called war on terror, and the anti-war movements
of Britain and the United States gathered in the main
auditorium of the General Union of Workers (UGT) in Madrid
Nov. 23 to discuss "Today's World: War or Peace?"
The Organization in Solidarity with the Peoples of Asia,
Africa and Latin America (OSPAAAL) in Spain called the
discussion. OSPAAAL chairperson Jaime Ballesteros moderated
the forum, which included a lively question-and-answer
period.
While the speakers represented a variety of viewpoints and
different countries, the overall impact of the meeting was
to condemn U.S. aggression against Afghan istan and to warn
of the dangers of new wars.
Gaspar Llamazares, general coor dinator of the United Left
in Spain, set the tone by condemning the U.S. war and also
the cooperation of the Spanish government with the
"coalition against terror." Spain's government is led today
by a right-wing party, with Jose Maria Aznar as prime
minister.
Isabel Allende, Cuban ambassador to Spain, discussed the new
dangers for world peace and made it clear that the Cuban
people supported their government and would defend it
against any threats. Mohamed Abdul Assis Hossein, Iraqi
ambassador, represented his country's point of view. Olgher
Santodomingo Guarin described how death squads in Colombia
have been carrying out terror against the progressive
movement there.
All these three areas have been named as potential targets
of Bush's anti-terror crusade.
An important element in the program was a talk by Spojmai
Zariab, an Afghan writer who has been living in exile in
Montpelier, France, since 1991. She spoke of the situation
for women in Afghanistan and the hardships caused to the
Afghan people by 23 years of war, now topped by the U.S.
bombing campaign.
John Catalinotto of the International Action Center
described the political situation in the U.S. following
Sept. 11 and described how the Bush administration took
advantage of the population's fear to mobilize for war. He
also outlined how the IAC initiated the ANSWER coalition to
immediately mobilize an anti-war movement that brought
marches of 20,000 people each to both Washington and San
Francisco on Sept. 29.
Jeremy Corbyn, a Labor Party deputy to the British
Parliament, told how the anti-war movement in Britain had
been able to mobilize 100,000 people for a demonstration in
London on Nov. 18, doubling the size of its first effort.
The demonstration, he said, had support from labor, from the
large Muslim community in Britain, from the anti-nuclear
movement, from left parties and even from Labor Party
supporters unhappy with Prime Minister Tony Blair's pro-U.S.
war policies.
The Spanish audience was encouraged by the reports of anti-
war resistance within the major imperialist powers that are
carrying out the bombing in Afghanistan--the U.S. and
Britain. Little of this resistance is reported in the big-
business media.
Catalinotto later brought messages of solidarity from the
U.S. movement to other anti-war meetings in Spain, including
a country-wide meeting of anti-globalization forces in
Zaragoza on Nov. 24 held to plan actions for the first half
of 2002.
- END -
(Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to
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From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> (WW)
Date: keskiviikko 12. joulukuu 2001 04:20
Subject: [WW] Chile police attack Communist Party office
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Dec. 13, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
CHILE: POLICE ATTACK COMMUNIST PARTY OFFICE
By R.M. Sharpe
The headquarters of the Communist Party of Chile was
brutally attacked on Nov. 27 by over 300 members of the
Carabineros, the Chilean national police. General Secretary
Gladys Marin, International Department Head Luis Barrera and
a Communist Youth League leader were among 50 people
reportedly arrested in the police assault. Most have since
been released.
Located in Santiago, the Chilean capital, the small office
was "then trashed, telephone lines cut, and computers and
other electronic equipment smashed and thrown out into the
street," the party reported in a communiqu� distributed on
the internet. Scores were beaten--some requiring
hospitalization--while defending themselves well into the
night with sticks and stones against police batons, tear gas
and water cannons.
Secretary-General Marin told the Nov. 30 Santiago Times in
response to the attack that "Something dark is taking place
across this county. There are dark forces, de facto forces
within Carabineros and Justice"--a reference to the fascist
elements that ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990 and have
remained in the shadows since then.
Party leaders believe that the attack was deliberately
carried out as a police threat against plans by the
administration of President Fernando Lagos to restructure
the force. This includes the "retirement" of 15 high-ranking
officers and shifting the Carabineros to the jurisdiction of
the interior ministry.
The assault was executed less than a day after Gen. Alberto
Cienfuegos replaced former police head Gen. Manuel Ugarte.
Additionally, according to the Santiago Times, it took place
"just four hours after Gen. Cienfuegos had met Lagos to
discuss the renewal of Carabineros' higher echelons."
While condemning the attack, both the president and the
police head denied that it was a police protest instigated
by "higher ups." But Marin demanded an investigation into
the allegation. In addition, she insisted that "the
operation was an act of political provocation against her
party," reported the Santiago Times.
The police action was carried out under "legal" cover of an
eviction order for back rents allegedly owed by the party.
Civil Court Judge Pilar Aguaya signed the order without
proper notice first being served. After meeting with Marin
in a Santiago jail, Gen. Cienfuegos announced that Sergio
Garcia, the commander of the police action, had been removed
pending an investigation. The Communist Party has filed a
lawsuit against Aguaya.
The anti-communist police attack came against two backdrops.
Internationally, the U.S. government, led by President
George W. Bush, is using the attacks on the World Trade
Center and the Pentagon to unleash a global offensive,
dubbed the "War on Terrorism," whose targets include
leftists fighting for economic justice. While supposedly
aimed primarily at Islamic fundamentalists associated with
Osama bin Laden, the U.S. stance has emboldened far-right
forces in many parts of the world.
In Chile, parliamentary elections are only three weeks away
and increased votes were expected for the communists.
President Lagos's Concertacion coalition, described as
"center-left" in the capitalist media, has ruled Chile since
1990, implementing the International Monetary Fund's neo-
liberal "free market" policies but also allowing some
political space for the left to function.
The upcoming vote will take place with unemployment above 9
percent and an expected downturn in economic growth from 5.4
to 3 percent, according to government figures. Meanwhile,
talks between Chile and the United States that would create
the first trade pact between Washington and a South American
country, via "fast-track" legislation, have stalled.
In September 1999, 26 years after the CIA-backed coup that
overthrew former President Salvador Allende's Popular Unity
government, tens of thousands had taken to the streets
across Chile. In Santiago, 10,000 marched to Allende's
burial place. They also recalled the other victims of
dictator Augusto Pinochet's military regime, which lasted
from 1973 to 1990.
Allende, a Marxist and leader of the Socialist Party, had
been elected president of Chile in 1970 only to be murdered
three years later in a bloody coup. A wave of terror was
then unleashed against the left and working-class movement
during Pino chet's rule. Over 3,000 people were slaughtered
while Washington worked behind the scenes with the fascist
generals.
Efforts to bring Pinochet to trial for his crimes have been
fruitless.
Three months after the September 1999 march, Communist Party
candidate Gladys Marin won third place in the presidential
election with what Cable News Network called "a small but
vital 3.2 percent."
The 1973 coup in Chile showed that the capitalist rulers
wouldn't allow the workers to challenge their privileged
status and their ownership of the means of production merely
by winning an election. Once Allende began to implement even
mild social reforms, the ruling class began plotting his
downfall. When they couldn't achieve it at the ballot box,
they did it with brute force, dispensing with any pretense
of respect for democratic traditions.
- END -
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