What's wrong? The stupid binary idea of a "unified Iraqi people" rising up against the US. It's classic WWP binary analysis-- there are two sides and only two sides in every conflict, there are no mediating interests, no complications. Ex-Baathists, Al Qaeda-allied jihadists, and Iraqi Shiite fundamentalists are all the same, all anti-imperialist fighters on the same side.
It's ridiculous rhetoric-- they don't need to visit any particular country. Just pull proper names from any news report of fighting, then feed it into the WWP MadLibs anti-imperialism manifesto.
The fact is that this week is a dramatic change from anytime in the last year, since for the first time a large swath of Iraqis, who could not be seen as Hussein holdouts, are in revolt. That is a dramatic change, but the WWP doesn't want to say that, since they think Baathists are freedom fighters, not criminals.
Sadr's forces are no great shakes either-- they are allied with Iran and would hardly be much of an improvement on Hussein if they took power. But the do reflect a far more real rejection of the US Occupation by the Iraqi people than anything else we've seen.
Nathan
----- Original Message -----
From: david.anderson at colorado.edu
Sent: Wednesday, April 07, 2004 11:08 AM
Subject: [DemocraticLeft] ANSWER's answer on Iraq
here is ANSWER's answer on Iraqi situation right now...what's wrong and right
about this analysis? What is left out? Okay, I am being lazy.
Dave Anderson
--------------------------------------------------------------------
*EMERGENCY IRAQ PROTESTS*
NATIONALLY-COORDINATED DAYS OF ACTION
Friday, April 9 - Monday, April 12
To demand:
- U.S. OUT OF IRAQ
- Bring the Troops Home Now
- Money for jobs, education and healthcare - Not for wars
of aggression
*Call initiated by the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition*
See below for details of protests in New York City,
Washington DC, San Francisco and Los Angeles, downloadable
flyers, and a link to a form to list your city's action on
the website and in future emails.
* * * * *
IRAQ AT THE BOILING POINT
The Iraqi revolt against occupation is spreading in
qualitative developments. The Pentagon is reacting with a
murderous iron fist that is making the popular Iraqi
position increasingly clear to the world: that the
occupation forces are indeed an enemy - not liberators.
In the last 72 hours, as the colonial force attempts to
hold the country in a tight grip, the number of casualties
has mounted, as Iraqi cities are besieged and bombed by
missiles and tanks. Street fighting is raging throughout
the country.
In a classic demonstration of colonial practices, the U.S.
is conducting a widespread reign of terror. In fact, the
U.S. and its allies are now conducting military operations
in Ramadi, Baghdad, Basra, Mosul, Sadr, Adamiya, Kufa,
Kut, Karabla, Amarah, Kirkuk, Mosul, Nasiriyah, Shula, and
other cities and towns. The city of Fallujah has been
exceptionally targeted. This is the same city where in the
first weeks of the occupation U.S. troops took over a
local school and killed 15 residents who were protesting
the takeover of the facility.
Yet, this is not exactly George W. Bush's Vietnam. During
Vietnam it took years for the majority of the people and
most soldiers to turn against the war. This time, the
people of the United States have learned within the span
of only one year that the war against Iraq is not only
based on outright fabrications and lies. One year after
the occupation, and even before, the people of this
country and the world are and have been turning against
the occupation and the warmakers.
Although an allegation has been made that this is isolated
"trouble" within a "Sunni Triangle," the revolt is in
reality over an entire Iraqi rectangle encompassing nearly
all areas - from north to south. Over the past three days,
the previously simmering rejection of foreign occupation
has evolved into a near full-scale revolt that has spread
to many cities in the south of Iraq. All while the U.S.
has implemented collective punishment against the people
of Fallujah and other cities in the central part of the
country.
In a predictable attempt at molding public opinion, the
U.S. media continues to use racist stereotyping to
characterize those who are resisting. The constant
designation of the Iraqi people as "Sunnis" or "Shiites"
is carefully calculated language designed to conceal the
single most important fact: that the Iraqi people (Sunni
and Shiite) believe that their country has been seized by
foreign imperialist occupying forces and that they - as
one people - are fighting to evict them.
If the analogy with Vietnam has validity, it is this: U.S.
political leaders, again emboldened by arrogance and drunk
with power, falsely believe that their possession of high
tech weapons is sufficient to subdue small Third World
countries seeking independence and sovereignty. The words
associated with Vietnam - "debacle," "quagmire," etc. -
are certainly apt for Bush's war and the occupation of
Iraq.
But there are fundamental differences between the war in
Vietnam and Iraq. The most important one being that the
United States could, at the end of the day, disengage from
Southeast Asia and withdraw from Vietnam. The policy
planners and decision makers for the U.S. imperial
establishment know full well that the United States
military, political and economic structures will never
voluntarily withdraw from Western Asia and Northern
Africa, also known as the Middle East.
This is where the oil is. Not just in Iraq, but also
throughout the Gulf region where two-thirds of the world's
known petroleum reserves are located. This region is also
the gateway to the rapidly expanding economies of East and
Southeast Asia, the northern entrance to the African
continent from Europe, and the where several strategic
waterways are located: the Suez Canal, Gibraltar Strait,
the Red Sea, and the Gulf. The Arab portion of that region
is also simmering with a popular notion of unity and
desire for full sovereignty spanning northern Africa and
western Asia. It is where the Palestinian struggle anchors
a populist anti-colonial sentiment, and where imposed
proxy regimes are dependent in their existence directly on
the U.S. In the heart of that region, there is Israel, the
U.S.'s most important ally and power broker, functioning
as a spearhead that simultaneously requires a political,
economic and diplomatic cover and support from the U.S.
Absolute control - military control - over these highly
strategic resources is the key to the exercise of hegemony
in the world capitalist economy. If the United States were
to leave, Japan, Germany, Britain, France would be quick
to attempt to fill the void. Therefore, Bush does not
contemplate withdrawing from Iraq as an option, nor would
it be a considered option if Kerry replaces Bush in
November.
The Bush gang opted to use naked military force as a means
of further consolidating an existing U.S. dictatorship
over the region. The project in Iraq was designed not only
to crush the Iraqi government, it was seen as a means to a
larger end. The plan was to build large-scale U.S.
military bases in Iraq, establish in Baghdad the largest
U.S. embassy (more than 3,000 personnel) in the world, and
use Iraq as the launching pad for regime change throughout
the region - the imposition of a true Pax Americana.
Earlier U.S. governments, including the Clinton
administration, also declared regime change in Iraq as the
top priority in U.S-Iraq relations. The Bush
administration, however, saw Iraq in a different light:
that the conquest and takeover of Iraq would be used as a
strategic pivot for the long-term reorganization and
globalization of this region under U.S. authority.
This was not the first time the U.S. has utilized Iraq for
this purpose. In 1955, the Baghdad Pact was orchestrated
by Britain and the U.S. as a response to the emergence of
the non-aligned movement that was established in Bandung,
Indonesia by decolonizing movements and nations. The Iraqi
people have never accepted that they should be pawns in
someone else's geo-strategic chess board. They have always
resisted colonialism.
Tens of thousands of Iraqis have died already as their
country was invaded and occupied. It is clear from the
events of the recent days that so many Iraqis are enraged
and disgusted with the occupation of their country that
thousands and thousands of people are prepared to give
their life rather than accept foreign domination.
The Iraqis are paying with their lives rather than be
colonial subjects. Meanwhile, the young men and women of
the foreign occupying forces, including U.S. troops,
really just want to go home. They and their families know
that contrary to the assertions of Rumsfeld, the U.S.
forces are not considered liberators by the people. This
is the classic equation for an unwinnable imperialist war.
In this sense too, the conflict resembles Vietnam. The
Vietnamese people were prepared to endure immeasurable
sacrifice to reclaim control over the country against
foreign occupying forces that, in turn, only wanted only
to return to their families in one piece.
In the recent days, the U.S. media establishment has been
filled with analysis and stories reflecting the grave
concern within the political establishment that Bush's
Iraq design may be creating the biggest crisis for U.S.
imperialism since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The
actions of Bush and Rumsfeld have catalyzed a revolt that
is moving from an embryonic stage to a potential
full-scale rebellion. Unable to prevent the spread of the
rebellion by other means, the U.S. military is carrying
out more murderous repression against the people, which in
turn will inflame the situation in Iraq and throughout the
region. Under these conditions, there is no actual exit or
withdrawal strategy in site. Even should the U.S. succeed
in outsourcing the occupation authority from Paul Bremmer
to his hand picked Iraqi proxies, there will be no actual
exit of U.S. military forces from Iraq.
Even the phony exit strategy is collapsing as the Pentagon
brass ponders the current need, like General Westmoreland
did 1967, to send thousands of additional troops to crush
a rebellion that has its roots in the anti-colonial
yearnings of an occupied people. Rumsfeld has said
publicly that he is considering sending additional troops
to Iraq. The Pentagon has relied not only on the
120,000-plus U.S. military forces but, according to
Nightline on April 6, an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 "guns
for hire" - U.S., British and South African mercenaries -
that are now fighting in Iraq under the euphemistic label
"private contractors."
The people of the world, including the people of the U.S.,
created an unprecedented mass movement in the last 18
months opposing Bush's war and subsequent occupation of
Iraq. At this critical time it is urgent to take to the
streets in emergency mobilizations to demand: U.S. Out of
Iraq; Bring the Troops Home Now; Money for jobs, education
and healthcare - Not for wars of aggression.
From Friday April 9 through Monday April 12 there will be
nationally-coordinated emergency local demonstrations in
cities and towns throughout the country. Organize an
action in your local area. To list your local action on
the website and in future emails, fill out the easy-to-use
form at
http://www.internationalanswer.org/campaigns/a10/event.html
NEW YORK CITY
Friday, April 9
4:30 pm
Times Square
212-633-6646
WASHINGTON DC
Saturday, April 10
12 noon
White House (Lafayette Park)
202-544-3389
LOS ANGELES
Friday, April 9
5 pm
Westwood Federal Building (Wilshire & Veteran)
213-487-2368
SAN FRANCISCO
Saturday, April 10
12 noon
UN Plaza (Market St. between 7th St. and Hyde. Civic
Center BART)
415-821-6545
Downloadable flyers, other literature and more can be
found at: http://www.internationalanswer.org/campaigns/a10/index.html
LIST YOUR LOCAL ACTION:
Fill out the easy-to-use form at
http://www.internationalanswer.org/campaigns/a10/event.html
to list your city's or campus's event! A list of national
actions will be available soon.
--------------------------
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
Act Now to Stop War & End Racism
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
http://www.InternationalANSWER.org
info at internationalanswer.org
New York 212-633-6646
Washington 202-544-3389
Los Angeles 213-487-2368
San Francisco 415-821-6545
Sign up to receive updates (low volume):
http://www.internationalanswer.org/subscribelist.html
To make a tax-deductible donation, go to
http://www.internationalanswer.org/donate.html
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Michael Pugliese