------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the March 20, 2003 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
WORLD'S PEOPLE STRUGGLE TO HOLD BACK U.S. ATTACK By Fred Goldstein Whether or not Washington is able to strong-arm nine votes on the UN Security Council for its war resolution, or overcome French and Russian threats to veto, the Security Council diplomatic-political process has revealed this: an isolated, arrogant imperialist super-power is hell- bent on raining death and destruction upon the people of Iraq. In thuggish style, the Bush administration has used threats, intimidation, bribery and dirty tricks to try to put a veneer of international legitimacy on its criminal intention to wage an unprovoked war of aggression against Iraq. But no Security Council resolution, no declarations by any coalition of willing imperialists and their dependent regimes, and no congressional resolutions passed by the legislative servants of U.S. big business can bestow legitimacy on this imperialist war of conquest. Its aims are to seize the oil fields of Iraq, establish a U.S. colonial puppet regime in Baghdad, and set up a base from which to subjugate the entire Middle East. Planning to overthrow a sovereign government in a formerly colonial country trying to maintain its independence is a crime against international law and the United Nations Charter. It should be an indictable offense. Planning to launch 3,000 bombs and missiles upon a population in the space of 48 hours to create "shock and awe," based on the military model of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, is an act of pure terrorism and a horrendously premeditated crime against humanity. The Bush administration claims that its goal is to "liberate" the Iraqi people. Yet it is ringing their country with 250,000 soldiers armed with the most modern military equipment. It has threatened to use even nuclear weapons against Iraq. PENTAGON FLAUNTS WMD On March 11, on the eve of its intended invasion, the Pentagon hyped a test in Florida of a 21,000-pound super bomb known as MOAB, "Mother of All Bombs." This newly developed weapon of mass destruction is even more powerful than the dreaded 15,000-pound bomb euphemistically called a "daisy cutter." U.S. warplanes, when not busy bombing sites in southern Iraq, are dropping leaflets over the country showing pictures of dead Iraqis, including children, in order to terrorize the population and the soldiers. The Pentagon is planning to further destroy much of the infrastructure left over from the Gulf War of 1991, which the UN estimates will cause at least 500,000 additional deaths from disease and malnutrition. It is planning to make the Iraqis pay to rebuild after this destruction and is also planning to parcel out Iraqi oil to U.S. and British oil companies. Finally, the U.S. intends to set up a military occupation of the country under the command of Gen. Tommy Franks and import pro-imperialist exiles to do Washington's bidding. This is called "bringing democracy" to Iraq. KEEP THE PRESSURE ON It is precisely because of these intended war crimes that the anti-war movement must stretch itself to the limit at this late hour to forestall the Bush administration's planned military offensive. The movement has made unexpectedly great strides by its rapid and widespread mobilization, culminating in the global showing of over 10 million on Feb. 15. But it must keep the pressure on. The results have already weakened the crucial U.S.-British alliance. Prime Mini ster Tony Blair has his back against the wall. Fear of the masses has Labor Party government officials looking for the door and 200 of Labor's representatives in the House of Commons are in a state of rebellion. Hopefully, the movement in Britain will strain every muscle to try to bring pressure to bear on, if not bring down, the Blair government from the streets, in order to break the weakening link that chains Whitehall to Washington's war drive. The split between the French and German imperialists on the one hand and Washington and London on the other has deepened in no small measure because of the worldwide struggle against the war. Both the French and German capitalists seek to protect their own strategic and corporate interests from being overwhelmed by a complete U.S. takeover of Iraq and the Middle East. Both ruling classes undoubtedly know that they will be frozen out by Wall Street and the Pentagon should Washington conquer Iraq. In pursuit of their own interests, both regimes are trying to ride the anti-U.S. wave that is rising all over Europe. This has heightened the deadlock at the Security Council and further isolated the Bush administration. The anti-war struggle, from Ankara to Madrid, from Rawalpindi to Cairo, and from Seoul to Mexico City, has helped force the mighty Bush administration into a diplomatic/political buzz-saw that it never bargained for. It has caused a delay in the Pentagon's schedule for war. This makes the March 15 emergency mobilizations against the war in Wash ington, D.C., Los Angeles and San Francisco, initiated by the ANSWER coalition, all the more urgent. Taking place on the eve of Washington's war deadline, they are one more opportunity to push back against the pressure of the militarists who want to bring more death, suffering and oppression to the Iraqi people. The movement should pay no heed to the New York Times/CBS News poll that purported to show growing support for the war. In fact, the Times should have read the words of its own columnist, Thomas Friedman, who wrote candidly in his op-ed column of March 2, "[I] don't believe the polls. I've been to nearly 20 states recently and I've found that 95 percent of the country wants to see Iraq dealt with without a war." Friedman is a long-time hawk on the Middle East. This latest poll is a gift from the mainstream capitalist class to the Bush administration in a time of weakness. It is calculated to buck them up as they suffer setback after setback on the international arena. Perhaps the Times watched Secretary of State Powell as he listlessly recited the Bush line on the talk shows on Sunday, March 9. Maybe they saw his flagging spirits and his dispirited recitation of the rehearsed lies about weapons of mass destruction and the imminent threat to the U.S. These worn-out falsehoods have failed to eradicate the conviction of the world that Washington is simply out to conquer Iraq to build its own empire, to strengthen its own domination. This is the truth that everyone knows, everyone sees. DEMANDING IRAQ DO THE IMPOSSIBLE Countless repetitions of demands that Iraq do the impossible, prove what it doesn't have-prove a negative--have turned into their opposite. They have shown the world that it is the U.S. government that is lying-lying about its motives. It wants war, pure and simple. Otherwise, why would it demand the impossible as a condition for peace? Even the weakest, the poorest and most vulnerable countries on the UN Security Council have been loathe to succumb to the pressure of the mighty super-power. The suggestion by the so-called "middle six" for a 45-day waiting period is really a NO to the U.S. This is a political debacle for Washington, even if the smaller countries cannot sustain that position under intense threats and pressure. So as Bush is backed into a diplomatic corner, his two political props are the media war propaganda machine and the loyal political establishment that is there to defend the war effort. The Democrats in Congress voted for the war resolution, with the notable exception of Rep. Barbara Lee. Its leaders have not broken from Bush, even though they are looking aghast as the administration sinks deeper into isolation. What's the best the Democrats can muster? Tom Daschle's request that the U.S. have more international support if it goes to war. In other words, it is okay to have a war of conquest, drop thousands of bombs on the Iraqi people, invade their capital, seize their country, take their oil, rule over them with a military occupation, and destroy their sovereignty--if Bush can get Security Council approval. This is the position of cautious imperialism as opposed to the adventurous imperialism of Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and his deputy, Paul Wolfowitz. It is the position of those loyal servants of the Pentagon and big business who fear that the wrath of the people will upend all their plans of conquest unless they can force more governments into line to give them some semblance of support. AN UNHOLY ALLIANCE But both the cautious imperialists and the adventurers of the Bush administration have formed an unholy alliance to go to war and take over Iraq and the Middle East. They have united behind the drive to seize its fabulous wealth in oil, not just for the profit of it but also as a strategic resource to strengthen the leverage of Wall Street and the Pentagon against China, Japan, Europe and the entire world, which cannot function militarily, industrially or financially without oil. What is becoming clearer and clearer as the war approaches is that this is not only Bush's war. This is a war that has the backing of the entire U.S. capitalist class. That is the secret behind the silence of the Democratic Party. That is what is behind the unified drumbeat of war on the television networks, which are owned and controlled lock, stock and barrel by giant corporations. That is what lies behind the total lack of genuine opposition from any significant section of the capitalist establishment. One of the lone opponents of the war in the Senate, Robert Byrd of Virginia, said that when it came time to oppose the war, "you could hear a pin drop" in the Senate chamber. Of course, Byrd is rightfully discredited in the progressive movement because of his racist background. But he has seen the evolution of U.S. imperialism in three wars and is appalled at the new phase of imperialist adventurism being endorsed by the entire ruling class establishment. What is surfacing in this struggle is the inevitable tendency of imperialism to go to war. Monopoly capitalism is a system of giant corporations, fused with the banks, that grow ever larger through mergers and takeovers, becoming global predators that plunder the oppressed countries, steal cheap labor and resources, take over governments and ruin whole nations. In the post-World War II era, the U.S. imperialist ruling class built up the Pentagon and the military-industrial complex to become the dominant world power. But this dominance was largely built up and exercised in the struggle against the Soviet Union and the socialist camp. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, this urge to dominance is now being expressed in the drive to establish Washington's absolute control of the globe and to subordinate the other imperialist powers to its will-to monopolize spheres of influence. WORKERS ARE THE KEY The U.S. rulers believe this can be done by pure military and economic power. What they have failed to take into account, and are beginning to get a taste of, is that once the masses of people get into motion and organize for resistance, they are unstoppable. The strength of the U.S. ruling class rests not upon military power, but upon the ideological hold it has over the working people and their lack of class consciousness about who their real enemy is. Once they begin to understand their enemy, things can turn around drastically. Hundreds of thousands of layoffs, the bankruptcy of the states and cities, cutbacks in every type of social service while Bush gives $400 billion to the military--workers are beginning to see that their enemies are not in Baghdad but in the boardrooms. That's where the decisions are made to throw people out of work, raise their medical insurance premiums and cut their wages. The workers' enemies are in the state houses and in Washington, where the decisions are made to cut housing, education, child care, aid to the disabled while giving billions in tax breaks to the rich. Their enemies are in the Pentagon, that brings them across the world to fight other workers and innocent people in oppressed countries like Iraq, when their real fight is right here at home against racism, sexism and anti- lesbian, gay, bi and trans oppression. It is not the Iraqi people who are depriving workers and the Black, Latino, Asian and Arab/Muslim communities of a decent life. It is capitalist exploitation; it is putting profits before people. The real fight is for the working people to take the economy out of the hands of its greedy owners, put an end to production for profit, and establish a system that puts the economic resources of society at the service of the people. That will eliminate the basis for war--forever. - 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 wwnews- [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. To subscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
