Victory to the Iraqis over U.S. imperialism! Working people have the power to end the bloodshed
The hope that a U.S.-led war of mass destruction against Iraq could be averted has evaporated like a water droplet in the Saudi desert. Over the protest of millions of people here, in the U.S. and around the world, Bush, Blair, Howard and Co. are at this moment murdering their way to Baghdad with the intention of imposing a military occupation that could last years. So much for the niceties of multilateralism and UN resolutions. Goodbye to the fiction that the Howard Government, pursuing "an independent foreign policy," had not made a decision to commit troops to a U.S. led war. Gone is the misconception that support for human rights and oppressed minorities in the Middle East determine U.S. policy. U.S. backing for Israel's war of extermination against Palestinians shows exactly how little its supposed concern for Iraqi Kurds means. The naked truth is that major corporations and their arrogant servants in government are not bound by laws or decency to do anything that does not please them and serve their interests. And it pleases them now to invade Iraq, enslave its people, steal their oil, and set up another military outpost in the Middle East -- just as it once pleased them to arm Hussein against Islamic revolutionaries in Iran. So how is it that replacing this former ally through the genocidal bombing of Iraq's people has become the most urgent task of the Bush regime? Bush is spurred by economic necessity. The intractable problem of capitalism is the chronic overproduction of goods resulting in recession: global markets evaporating, millions of workers unemployed -- and profits in jeopardy. For Bush, who believes that even modest government support for welfare programs is creeping socialism, war is the only solution. The Iraqi people are being annihilated so that Halliburton, the energy company Dick Cheney headed, and thousands of other corporations can invest profitably in rebuilding Iraq and replacing the immense amount of military hardware that will be blown up in this conflagration. Where this U.S. drive for world economic and political hegemony will end, no one knows. The Syrians, Libyans, North Koreans, Colombians, Ecuadorians, or Venezuelans could be next in line. It violates every notion of sovereignty and self-determination for the U.S. government to consider "regime change" as its privilege to impose. It is the obligation of antiwar activists around the world to uphold Iraq's right to self-defense against the neocolonial army of the U.S. and its allies and the right of Iraqis to take care of Hussein themselves. The actions of working people -- especially in the U.S., Britain and Australia -- through protests and work stoppages -- can and will make a difference in the days ahead. "Bring the troops home now!" is the rallying cry of those who know this is an unjust war. Issued by: Freedom Socialist Party Solidarity Salon: 580 Sydney Road, Brunswick Vic 3056 AUSTRALIA * www.socialism.com * [EMAIL PROTECTED] * 03-9388-0062, 03-9386-5065 .. -- -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Sub: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsub: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]