{"id":858,"date":"2019-03-06T23:06:28","date_gmt":"2019-03-06T23:06:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wsm.prolerat.org\/?page_id=858"},"modified":"2019-10-20T15:54:00","modified_gmt":"2019-10-20T14:54:00","slug":"iraq-liberation-or-occupation","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/wsm\/iraq-liberation-or-occupation\/","title":{"rendered":"Iraq: liberation or occupation?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

From a leaflet handed out at the \u201cStop the War\u201d demonstrations in London on 27 September 2003. <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\nThe million anti-war demonstrators who poured into London at the \nbeginning of the year have since been proved right on a number of \nissues. The people in Iraq did not roll out the red carpet for the \n\u201cliberating\u201d US and British troops as they overran the country. The war \ndid provoke more anti-Western resentment. There was never any threat to \nthe USA. Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction were never the issue and so \nfar have proven not to exist, except in the warped mind of US neo-cons \nand the Blair junta in Britain. Iraq had nothing to do with 9\/11 \u2013 at \nlast admitted by George Bush on 17 September \u2013 and neither was there any\n link to Al Qaeda. The US war machine is up to its neck in a mess of its\n own making, which worsens daily, while Bush’s corporate buddies are now\n raking in huge profits from contracts awarded for the reconstruction of\n Iraq.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The killing continues<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\nIt is now six months since Bush informed us that Iraq had been \nliberated. If this is liberation, then what is oppression? Iraqi \ninfrastructure is virtually non-existent, crime is out of control, and \nthe \u201cliberation\u201d has turned into guerrilla war in which daily Iraqi \ndeaths from gunfire outnumber those of the occupying forces by 20-1. \nWidespread resentment against US occupation is the norm. The common \nconsensus worldwide is that the US has failed miserably in Iraq, \ncreating only greater regional problems. Millions of Iraqis now accept \nthat whilst Saddam might have been a tyrannical dictator, his regime did\n ensure relative stability.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nThe recent US \u201cliberation\u201d of Afghanistan is perhaps analogous. Since \nthe ousting of the Taliban, unaccountable American-paid warlords have \nbeen free to rape and murder at will. People are being murdered at the \nrate of 100 a week. Women are still fearful to walk out without burqas. \nOpium production is now back to normal and every organisation reporting \nfrom Afghanistan makes the same claim \u2013 human rights abuses are greater \nthan under the rule of the Taliban.

\nIndeed, the only significant US achievement in Iraq lies in the fact \nthat the US has turned the only Arab country with no Al Qaeda base into a\n recruiting ground for Islamic terrorism. You could be forgiven for \nthinking this was part of the US game plan insofar as it provides the US\n with a further pretext for its \u201cwar on terror\u201d as it currently calls \nits imperialist foreign policy. What an amazing feat Washington has \nperformed. What a mess Bush now realises he has created.

\nA recent Washington proposal now under consideration is for the \nestablishment of a UN multilateral military force to join U.S. \noccupation troops in Iraq. It would operate as a separate, parallel \nforce with a separate command composition, but under the overall command\n of the US and accountable to the Pentagon. Furthermore, the arrangement\n would not include the US sharing authority and information with the UN \nor the countries providing assistance. This was in fact US practice \nduring the Clinton administration in Somalia and Haiti, for instance.

\nInterestingly, when the UN Security Council opposed the US invasion of \nIraq, arguing there was no reason to resort to violence, it was Bush who\n dismissed the UN as a mere \u201ctalking shop\u201d. Now after starting an \n\u201cillicit\u201d war \u2013 if a war can ever be called licit \u2013 which marginalised \nthe UN Security Council, a war that has not gone Bush’s way, the US \nseeks the help of the Security Council to internationalise the economic \nand human costs of their occupation of Iraq. Perhaps Bush thinks Indian,\n Pakistani or Nigerian mercenaries of the United States will receive a \nmore amicable reception in Iraq than US forces.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

US, UN, same difference<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\nOne wonders whether Washington is oblivious to the recent attack on the \nUN base in Baghdad with the loss of 21 lives. For many Middle Eastern \nmilitants, the UN is seen as simply another branch of US imperialist \nforeign policy and thus a legitimate target. Back in the early 1990s, it\n was the UN which put in place the US-sponsored sanctions regime which \nwrought havoc on Iraqi society \u2013 a society recovering from a 10-year war\n with Iran and a murderous war with the US, Britain, France (yes) and \nothers. Such sanctions left 500,000 Iraqi children dead from disease and\n malnutrition and crippled Iraq’s infrastructure. More recently, it was \nthe UN Security Council which approved the US-installed puppet \ngovernment and in effect approved the occupation by opening a UN mission\n office to help make it successful. So any idea that the UN could carry \nthrough something the US could not is wishful thinking. UN forces would \nfare no better than US troops.

\nClearly the Washington warmongers did not count on the post-invasion \nexpenses they would encounter, or the number of troops they would need \nfor the job. The US war-for-profit machine has clearly bitten off more \nthan it can chew. Following on from the $79 billion that was released in\n April 2003 for the cost of the occupation of Iraq, Bush has since \nallocated an extra $87 billion and Vice-President, Dick Cheney, has \nindicated even that will not suffice. Meanwhile, in Britain, chancellor \nGordon Brown is to announce a further \u00a31 billion for the British part in\n the occupation next month.

\nSixteen of America’s 33 combat brigades are now in the quagmire of Iraq,\n which means that Bush’s pre-emptive wars have placed 160,000 American \ntroops in Iraq and Afghanistan combined. Still, Bush wants to send more \ntroops and Blair has also indicated that he is prepared to send \nthousands more young men and women into the cauldron of hate.

\nAnd the beneficiaries? The Iraqi people? No. So far the only ones \nsmiling are the corporate elite close to the White House, the likes of \nHalliburton and Bechtel, Parsons Group and Stevedoring Services of \nAmerica, which are earning billions of dollars out of the reconstruction\n of Iraqi society.

\nThere was always the risk that once Saddam was removed from power \nextremist groups would come to the fore and make Iraq far more unstable \nthan under Ba’athist rule. This much had been acknowledged by President \nBush senior during the first Gulf War and lay behind Washington’s \ndecision not to support US-inspired revolts of the Iraqi Kurds and the \nMarsh Arabs. It made sound US sense to have Saddam crush these revolts \nmercilessly rather than have him removed and the country fragment and \nthe region destabilise. The very forces the US feared would be unleashed\n following the toppling of Saddam are now on the rampage \u2013 they might \nhave loathed Saddam, but they hate the US more. As the guerrilla war \nspirals, tens of millions across the world look on in despair, their \nworst fears confirmed.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Protests without end?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\nToday, well-meaning people from across Britain have again travelled to \nLondon to protest their outrage at the policies of Bush and his sidekick\n Blair in the pursuit of US global hegemony and the destruction created \nen route, particularly in Iraq. Most will believe the malaise can be \nsorted out within the usual channels capitalism offers \u2013 either a UN \nforce moves in or the US and British troops come home. The former, \nthough more likely, will only compound the problem and the latter can \nonly leave the region further unstable, with war lords and the varying \nshades of the region’s religions vying for political power. Whilst Bush \nwould welcome a UN effort, a US retreat would be unthinkable.

\nAs on previous demonstrations, placards and banners will carry myriad \nmessages, some demanding \u201cBush Must Go\u201d and \u201cBring the Troops Home\u201d, \nwith others screaming in assorted bright inks \u201cNo War for Oil\u201d and \u201cEnd \nthe Occupation.\u201d

\nFew, if any, will address the root of the problem \u2013 the capitalist \nsystem itself and its inherent and vicious competition for profits \u2013 and\n how the problems of capitalism can only be solved when we abolish the \nsystem itself. On previous occasions we have advised demonstrators who \nprotest against war, without setting it in its true context, to invest \nin a sturdy banner. If you are opposed to war and its effects, yet are \nprepared to support capitalism \u2013 and many left wing groups actually are \ndespite what they say, usually in the form of a state-run capitalism \u2013 \nthen settle down to a life of campaigning.

\nWhile it is important that workers oppose war, it is just as important \nthat we recognise just why armed conflicts between states break out and \nin whose interests wars are waged. If you think about it you’ll be \nhard-pressed to think of a single war that did not have its roots in the\n desire of small elites to make profits. All wars, even small-scale \nconflicts \u2013 and the ongoing conflict in Iraq is no exception \u2013 tend to \nbe fought over mineral wealth, foreign markets and areas of influence, \ntrade routes or the strategic points from which the same can be \ndefended.

\nTo end war \u2013 and the need to demonstrate against each war as one war \nsucceeds another (were you on the demos against the war in Afghanistan \nand before that against the war in Kosovo?) \u2013 capitalism has to be ended\n and replaced by a global system where the resources of the Earth have \nbecome the common heritage of all Earthpeople. That way, competition and\n conflict between elites over resources can give way to co-operation \nbetween peoples in different parts of the globe to use the world’s \nresources for the benefit of all its inhabitants.

\nIf you lend your support to a political party or organisation that fails\n to question the real nature of capitalist society, how our world is \norganised for production and how power is distributed, then you are in \neffect supporting a system that bred this war \u2013 and will breed future \nwars. We urge you to think seriously and reconsider your position. \nCapitalism and war and uncertainty that comes with it, or world \nsocialism and global peace and security? Protest endlessly against each \nnew war as it arises or campaigning for a new world of common ownership,\n democratic control, peace and human welfare.

From a leaflet handed out at the\n\u201cStop the War\u201d demonstrations in London on <\/em> 27 September 2003.<\/em>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Back to the Politics Index<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Back to the World Socialist Movement home page<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From a leaflet handed out at the \u201cStop the War\u201d demonstrations in London on 27 September 2003. The million anti-war demonstrators who poured into London at the beginning of the year have since been proved right on a number of issues. The people in Iraq did not roll out the red carpet for the \u201cliberating\u201d…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"magazine_newspaper_sidebar_layout":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-858","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/wsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/wsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/wsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/wsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/wsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=858"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/wsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/858\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2586,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/wsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/858\/revisions\/2586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/wsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}