------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Sept. 5, 2002 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
AS CRISIS GROWS OVER PLAN TO INVADE IRAQ: PROTESTS DOG BUSH Anti-War, Labor, Environmentalists Unite to Resist By Greg Butterfield As cracks spread through the Bush administration over its plan to invade Iraq, the president-select was dogged by loud, militant protests at every stop on his West Coast fundraising tour in late August. In Portland, Ore., a virtual "Battle of Seattle II" took place Aug. 22, as riot-gear-clad police pummeled and gassed thousands of protesters, including children. In Oregon, California and Texas, opponents of the war drive joined with labor unions and environmentalists to denounce President George W. Bush's policies. In Stockton, Calif., they rallied under the slogan, "Hands off Iraq and the ILWU"- -the longshore workers' union threatened with government strikebreaking. Together, these forces are squelching the administration's attempt to give the impression that nothing more is at stake than a tactical disagreement in the Republican Party over how best to crush Iraq. And the ferment over the Aug. 24-25 weekend wasn't confined to Bush's junket. Supporters of police brutality victim Donovan Jackson- Chavis, whose violent beating was captured on video earlier this summer, held a caravan for justice from Los Angeles to Oakland, Calif., while the United Farm Workers wrapped up an historic march for union rights in Sacramento. On the East Coast, militant anti-racists came out in Washington, D.C., to protest a march by the neo-Nazi National Alliance--the kind of vile element stirred up by Bush's racist divide-and-conquer policies since 9/11. And a delegation of U.S. anti-war activists, headed by former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, traveled to Iraq and declared its solidarity with the Iraqi people's preparations to resist unprovoked U.S. aggression. But Bush's tour was the focus as world attention zoomed in on the White House's unpopular plan to re-colonize Iraq on behalf of Big Oil and the big banks. GROWING ISOLATION The wavering among top-level Bush advisors is a sure sign that grassroots opposition to the war drive is growing day by day. And the U.S. continues to grow more isolated internationally, because the people of the world don't want a new war in the Middle East. It is fairly well known that the wing of the administration represented by Secretary of State Colin Powell is gravely concerned about the Iraq invasion scenario. This is not out of some principled respect for Iraq's right to self- determination, but out of fear that the Pentagon will overreach itself and become bogged down in a Vietnam-type war with mounting U.S. causalities, and the potential to spark anti-imperialist uprisings throughout the Middle East and Central Asia. Now arch-warmongers like James Baker, Brent Scowcroft and Henry Kissinger--all close advisors of Bush Jr. and big cheeses in the first Bush administration--are getting cold feet. They are warning Bush against going ahead without first taking the time to beat U.S. allies and the United Nations Security Council into line, as his father did prior to the 1991 Gulf War. Even timid Congress is getting into the act. Bush advisors claim to have a legal loophole that allows the president to declare war without congressional approval, in violation of the Constitution. On Aug. 27 some Democratic and Republican bigwigs said they wanted Bush to seek their approval--while bending over backwards to virtually promise him a rubberstamp. NUCLEAR WEAPONS PLOY For a long time the White House tried to sell the story that Iraq must be destroyed because it was building biological and chemical weapons. But Iraq's commercial, public and military infrastructure was completely devastated by the Gulf War nearly 12 years ago. U.S.-imposed UN sanctions have kept Iraq from rebuilding schools, hospitals and clean water facilities, much less "weapons of mass destruction." Iraq's human resources, too, have been devastated. More than 1 million Iraqis have died in the past decade because of the sanctions--many of them children. High-ranking members of UN weapons inspection teams came out and said flatly that Iraq does not have the capability to build these weapons. So now Washington has changed course. And just so no one would get confused by the president's often incoherent rhetoric, Vice President Dick Cheney emerged from the shadows Aug. 26 to deliver the message: Iraq must be conquered because somehow, someday, it might be able to build a nuclear weapon. Never mind that the U.S. is the only country, ever, to have used nuclear weapons in war. Never mind that Bush earlier this year declared that the U.S. has the right to nuclear "first-strike" in any and all cases. Cheney also claimed that a U.S. invasion of Iraq would somehow facilitate a "peace process" between the Palestinians and Israel, and that it would promote "moderate" Arab leaders and isolate "extremists." How, exactly, he didn't say. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak certainly wasn't won over by that argument. This longtime puppet of Washington came out in opposition to Bush's war plans Aug. 27. Like many other leaders in the region beholden to Washington, he knows that there is a likelihood of popular upheaval if the U.S. invades Iraq. This could have devastating consequences for the rich and powerful locals who guard Wall Street's oil profits--and lead to a resurgence of struggles for independence, progress and social justice. That's the last thing the U.S. bosses want! A Saudi Arabian representative agreed with Mubarak, even while being strong-armed at Bush's Texas ranch. But Bush & Co., drunk with Pentagon military power, don't want to hear it. The Iraqi people have faced 12 years of unrelenting bombings by U.S. and British aircraft. They have learned to survive under harsh wartime conditions all the time, and to make do with what little they have. These courageous women and men, who have lost sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers to brutal sanctions, are now preparing for people's war--what the Aug. 26 New York Times called "urban warfare." They are readying, city by city, block by block, and house by house if necessary, to defend Iraq's independence. It is not only the Iraqi people, but U.S. soldiers--sons and daughters of the working class--who will pay the price if Bush isn't stopped. Already 14,000 National Guard members and reservists called up after 9/11 have been notified that they will be required to serve two years of active duty instead of one. (Associated Press, June 27) Will they be sent to kill or be killed in the Middle East? Or will they be ordered to brandish arms against anti-war protesters on U.S. soil? BATTLE OF PORTLAND It was this arrogant playing with people's lives that sparked protests against Bush. Dubya added fuel to the fire--literally--with his outrageous plan to sell off old-growth forests in the West to timber companies on the rational that cutting down the trees will quell the threat of forest fires. This transparent giveaway to his corporate pals enraged the Northwest's powerful environmental movement and swelled the ranks of protesters, especially in Oregon. First 100 protestors met Bush in Medford, where they briefly blocked his entourage's path. Then at least 3,000 people poured into Portland's streets-- not only youthful activists, but also families with kids, union members and others. Local Robocops locked down nine blocks surrounding the Hilton Hotel where Bush was speaking at a fundraiser for Senator Gordon Smith. Late in the afternoon, as the crowd continued to swell, police declared a state of emergency. After a cursory warning to disperse, they attacked the demonstrators with rubber bullets, tear gas and pepper spray, batons and shields. Several people were arrested. Children, seniors and journalists were among those injured. Some protesters responded to the police assault by throwing rocks and bottles in self-defense. As usual, the corporate media turned reality on its head, reporting that the protesters had "become violent." They tried to justify the unprovoked police attack with reports that some wealthy guests going to Bush's soiree had been "jostled and taunted by protesters." Horrors! At an Aug. 24 news conference the National Lawyers Guild called for Police Chief Mark Kroeker's resignation. Others are calling for Mayor Vera Katz to resign. Among the speakers was Don Joughin, whose kids were pepper-sprayed. He showed photos of his children's red, swollen faces. "We brought our children to a peaceful protest, we stayed in the back and we were walking on the sidewalk," Joughin said. "Police quickly moved up behind us. ... I yelled to [one of the cops] to let us through because we had three small children. He looked at me and drew out his can from his hip and sprayed directly at me." (Portland Indymedia) 'HANDS OFF IRAQ AND THE ILWU!' In Stockton, Calif., Aug. 23, nearly 300 protesters came out for actions co-sponsored by International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 10 and International ANSWER--the Act Now to Stop War and End Racism coalition. First Bush addressed a crowd of right-wing supporters at the Civic Auditorium. Then he was shuttled to the Spanos Jet Center at the airport for a fundraiser for Republican candidate for governor Bill Simon--whose firm was recently fined for shady business deals. Protest organizers had to fight hard to defend their free- speech rights. When they arrived at the Civic Auditorium, they found the Secret Service had set up a blockade of city buses between the event and the permitted protest area. At the airport, Bush supporters were allowed to roam free while cops tried to herd protesters into a far-off parking lot. But the crowd refused to go. Instead they established a noisy picket line in the driveway, chanting, "Drop Bush, not bombs," and, "How much did you pay for democracy today?" "They revoked free speech earlier today and we just reinstated it," said ANSWER's Forrest Schmidt. "The Secret Service often confuses good and bad press with constitutional rights," he quipped. Bush backers leaving the luncheon had to run a gauntlet of protesters. At the rally, held in the shadow of Air Force One, Local 10 President Richard Mead explained how the union-busting Bush administration had threatened to intervene in dockworkers' contract struggle with port bosses under the guise of "homeland security." He said his union would fight against Bush's war plans. Local anti-war activist John Morearty called it the biggest protest to hit Stockton since he moved there in 1967. Later that day, protests greeted Bush in Santa Ana and Dana Point. Early the next morning, at a 7:00 a.m., $1,000-a-plate breakfast fundraiser for candidate Simon in Los Angeles' Westwood area, some 600 people came out to tell Bush "No new war against Iraq." The ANSWER-organized protest also drew immigrants' rights activists, police brutality protesters, Palestinian supporters and more. People came from as far as San Diego to join the demonstration. One huge banner read, "Bush, you stink of corporate corruption." The New York Times noted that Bush saw the protest, though it didn't report his reaction. Then Bush's tour was over. But the protests weren't. As he returned to his palatial vacation ranch in Crawford, Texas, for more consultations with his Masters of War, activists staged an anti-war caravan that confronted police roadblocks. Summer may be nearly over. But the struggle against the war is heating up. With reports from Nancy Mitchell, Richard Becker and Adrian Garcia. - 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] Subscribe [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe [EMAIL PROTECTED] Support the voice of resistance http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php) ------------------ This message is sent to you by Workers World News Service. 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