from the Iraq Communist Party. <URL:
http://www.iraqcp.org/framse1/0030301Iraqi%20Communist%20Party1.htm >
> ...The Anti-War Movement
The Central Committee also discussed new developments in the anti-war
movement which has engulfed the world, particularly in Europe and the US
itself, with millions of people from all walks of life, “united by the
desire to prevent aggression and avert war, and to strive for peaceful
resolution of conflicts, on a basis of respect for international legitimacy
and law.”
The meeting expressed satisfaction at “the increased tendency to link a rejection of war and support for peace, on the one hand, and the struggle against dictatorship and for freedom and democracy on the other hand”. This makes it imperative for the Iraqi patriotic opposition and Iraqis in the Diaspora “to exert efforts to deepen this tendency and expose the true faces of those who try to distort the solidarity of anti-war masses with our people and direct it to serve the dictatorial regime”.
In this context, the meeting stressed the need “to draw the attention of peace movements and anti-war masses of people to the danger of highlighting the anti-war slogan without condemning the dictatorship. Clearly this would not only enable the regime to utilize the anti-war movement for its own propaganda and political interests, but also may lead it to believe that this movement really stands by it, thus encouraging it to be more obstinate and thereby making it easier to ignite the war!”
Iraqi Opposition The Central Committee paid special attention to the state of affairs of the Iraqi opposition movement, stating that it was desirable to unite the forces of the opposition but that these forces needed “to embody their independence, on the basis of a democratic and patriotic program which expresses the higher interests of the Iraqi people, relying on the people’s movement and the rise up of armed forces, uniting them in a powerful current, under a political leadership on the ground, closely attached to the people and their real concerns and needs .. a unity which is based, at the same time, on legitimate international support, both official and popular, embodying the principles of UN Charter”.
The Communiqué said that "several mistakes" were committed in the preparations for the recent London Conference, which was supposed to bring together and unite the efforts of opposition forces. "There were, unfortunately, significant external influences despite efforts to mitigate them".
The Conference did not state its position regarding the "most important issue, i.e. the process and mechanism of change, for fear that this would put it in the position of rejecting war, which is the option promoted and prepared for by the US. It was content to reject some of the consequences of this war, such as occupation and installing a military governor". The Conference documents contained "good formulations for describing the existing regime, and an appropriate discourse regarding the need for confronting this regime and getting rid of it, as well as a broad outline of the opposition movement's objectives, i.e. achieving a unified democratic and federal Iraq. But this does not annul the serious shortcoming in the Conference decisions". In particular, "it fell into the trap of restructuring the Iraqi patriotic opposition on ethnic, religious and sectarian basis, and at the expense of sound fundamental criteria: political and social".
The Central Committee said that this shortcoming will weaken the opposition, limit its potential, and render it "more fragile in the face of external pressures; even more exposed to further division. This is so because it objectively stimulates tendencies of nationalist narrow mindedness, religious intolerance, and sectarian isolationism."
All this would "undoubtedly have a negative impact on our people's unity, which we want to be founded democratically and on the basis of civil society, while relinquishing the negative manifestations which had been encouraged by the dictatorship and anti-people regime."
Among other serious shortcomings were "the issue of quotas, competing over positions, and intolerance in tackling it .. marginalizing other forces and attempts by some to ignore their role." <SNIP>
-- Michael Pugliese
"Without knowing that we knew nothing, we went on talking without listening to
each other. Sometimes we flattered and praised each other, understanding that
we would be flattered and praised in return. Other times we abused and shouted
at each other, as if we were in a madhouse." -Tolstoy