This article has been reproduced from the <\/strong>Socialist Standard<\/strong><\/em> (February 2003<\/a>), the monthly journal of The Socialist Party of Great Britain. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The whole history of the Middle East since the 1930s has revolved around\n the lengths to which the UK and USA will go to maintain control of the \noil resources there and to prevent any rival, especially Russia, from \ngaining a foothold. Political coups, assassinations and the arming of \nany opponent to Russian influence have been just some of the clandestine\n activities that have created instability in the main trouble-spots of \nIraq, Iran and Afghanistan. The more the statements from politicians and\n the media are analysed, the more it becomes apparent of what we are not\n being told. This amounts to deceit and lies because the purpose is to \ndeliberately mislead.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n How can President Bush and PM Blair make such distorted and \nhypocritical statements without being challenged? What does this tell us\n about our \u201cfree\u201d media outlets, none of which remind the population or \nassist in overcoming their obvious collective amnesia?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although gaining their independence during the early half of the \n1900s, Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran had all experienced British \nImperialism which had fostered a general anti-British sentiment. During \nWorld War II both Iraq and Iran were invaded and occupied by allied \nforces to protect the oil-fields, thus surrounding land-locked \nAfghanistan with Allied-occupied countries. After the war the allied \narmies withdrew but anti-West feelings remained in Iran. In 1951 Dr. \nMuhammad Mossadaq was elected as Prime Minister and he made moves to \nnationalise the country’s oil. The West responded by deposing Mossadaq \nin a coup in 1953 and foisting their pro-West puppet, the Shah, upon the\n Iranian people thus retaining the oil in private hands of 8 companies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The arrogant, opulent and dictatorial Shah became increasingly \nunpopular among the people who eventually rallied to a revolution by \nIslamic Fundamentalists led by Ayatollah Khomeni. Supported by the \nmasses, the revolution succeeded in 1979 and the Shah fled. Having lost \ntheir puppet in Iran, the West set up and armed Saddam Hussein in Iraq \nand prompted an all-out war with Iran during which the USA provided \nSaddam with chemical and biological weapons and know-how along with \nconventional military hardware and training, from 1980-88. All of these \nweapons were used against Iran by Saddam during these years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n American armament manufacturers enjoyed a profit bonanza by secretly \nselling arms to Iran at the same time \u2013 \u201cIrangate\u201d organised by Oliver \nNorth on behalf of corporate America. Iranian capitalists within their \nIslamic movement also profiteered by secretly selling oil to Israel. A \ncease-fire was negotiated in 1988 and led to peace terms in 1990 from \nwhich Iraq achieved absolutely nothing. From 1988-90 Saddam had used the\n weapons supplied to him to attack the Kurds in Northern Iraq who had \nsupported Iran. He then made territorial demands and invaded Kuwait \nwhich led to Iraq up till then a staunch ally of America suddenly \nbecoming an enemy in the Gulf War.<\/p>\n\n\n\n US President George Bush is now effectively condemning Saddam Hussein\n for developing the weapons which were presented to Iraq by the U.N. in \nthe war against Iran while America has stockpiled the greatest arsenal \nof such weapons the world has ever known. Russia, China, Pakistan and \nIndia are among a collection of countries having nuclear weapons, and \nnone of these \u201cleaders\u201d could be described as nice, friendly, reliable \nor gentle individuals. Saddam is different only because his country is \nfloating on, and is surrounded by oil, on which America in particular is\n coming to depend, and demands control. Before the enthusiasm of Britain\n and Australia to become a close ally of the USA in a war becomes an \nirreversible obsession, they would be well advised to dwell upon the \ncost of such \u201cloyalty\u201d. There are numerous examples that clearly show \nsuch a move can become a disastrous and fatal health hazard. Apart from \nmilitary blunders that cause habitual casualties from American \u201cfriendly\n fire\u201d, there are the far more sinister political decisions based purely\n on American business interests which completely override any \nconsideration for the plight of any ally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n President Bush states he has no quarrel with the Iraqi people but \nwants to replace the \u201cevil Saddam Hussein and his regime\u201d. But let us \nnot forget that this was on the point of being achieved at the close of \nthe Gulf War when the Kurds and Shi-ites of Iraq rose up in armed revolt\n against Saddam at the promptings of President George Bush senior. \nAmerica then suddenly abandoned their new allies and allowed a vengeful \nSaddam to annihilate them by using the chemical weapons previously \nsupplied to him by the USA It seems it was realised that it was in \nAmerica’s interest to have the oil controlled by a single evil dictator \nrather than be spread out among several factions. And let us never \nforget the pro-American South Vietnamese allies who were suddenly \nabandoned when the US withdrew from that conflict, and left the complete\n list of names and details for the \u201cCommunists\u201d to find \u2013 and \nsubsequently deal with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, Russian influence in Afghanistan was being opposed by \nWestern capitalism. Having failed in Iran and Iraq, the Soviets \norganised a coup in Afghanistan in 1973 which led to steadily increasing\n unrest. This eventually prompted a Russian invasion of the country in \n1979. The \u201cWest\u201d countered this by organising, setting up, supporting, \narming and training Islamic Fundamentalists to indulge in a guerilla \nHoly War against the invaders. These fanatical religious nutters were \nideal for tackling the Russians in suicidal terror tactics to serve \n\u201cWestern interests\u201d. The British SAS trained these fanatics and the USA \nsupplied and supported the likes of Osama bin Laden and the al-Qaida \ngroup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our war-mongering \u201cWestern\u201d Christian Bible-punchers, Bush and Blair,\n are now desperately attempting to convince workers of the necessity to \nattack Iraq and remove Saddam. They allege they have proof that Saddam \ntrained members of al-Qaeda but conveniently forget that Britain’s SAS \ndid exactly the same thing when Iraq was an ally in armed conflicts \nagainst Iran and the Russians in Afghanistan. What sort of memories do \nour \u201cLeaders\u201d have? Alzheimer’s specials?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The real evil in this world is caused by the rival gangs of ruling \nclass hoodlums who control all media outlets, and the ignorance of the \nmasses who support them and the divisiveness of class, race, nationalism\n and religion. These are the factors preventing us from working together\n to repair our ecologically and environmentally damaged planet which has\n brought us again to the brink of a blood-bath for possession of oil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Back to the Politics Index<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nRemember, remember?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
US allies?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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