Washington, DC – On Saturday, March 18, several thousand people gathered at Lafayette Plaza in front of the White House to protest ongoing U.S. wars and interventions. The rally was organized and attended by the Answer Coalition, United National Antiwar Coalition, Codepink, Veterans for Peace, Black Alliance for Peace, Students for a Democratic Society, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Workers World Party, and Socialist Unity Party, amongst many other organizations. First the crowd heard speeches from various organizers of the rally.

Christly Carpio of Students for a Democratic Society gave a speech condemning U.S. intelligence agencies attempts to recruit Arab and Chinese students at the University of Illinois Chicago, which was successfully protested by the local student movement there. She went on to detail the ongoing student struggle in Florida to keep multicultural program and Black history classes against efforts by Governor Ron DeSantis to suppress it. Carpio also discussed the repression doled out by the local governments, including the recent arrest of four student activists in Tampa, including Carpio herself.

“We've been having protests against Governor Ron DeSantis's evil war on multicultural programs, Black history in schools, our attempts to increase Black enrollment in schools, and two Mondays ago myself and my fellow students were beaten, shoved and arrested by the University of South Florida police for calling on the university president to meet with us for this demand,” stated Carpio.

Carpio ended her speech tying the struggle of the student movement to the anti-war movement. “Despite the brutality we have faced, we say no to NATO, no to this U.S. war, and Students for a Democratic Society will be part of this fight every step of the way.”

After the first set of speeches at Lafayette Plaza, protesters marched to New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, going through downtown DC past the Washington Post building. In the church, Joe Lombardo of the United National Antiwar Coalition emceed speeches from representatives of various liberation and anti-war movements across the world including Eritrea, Ethiopia, Syria, China, Palestine, Libya, Guam and many other nations.

Wyatt Miller of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization spoke, tying the struggle against U.S. imperialism internationally to the struggle domestically: “There are oppressed nations within U.S. borders, and the enemy they face in their struggles for liberation is the same enemy faced by nations like Palestine, Venezuela, Cuba, the Philippines, Syria and so on, because that enemy is U.S. imperialism.”

“I’m from Minneapolis. In 2020 after the police murder of George Floyd we saw just a glimpse of the power of the people when we stand up against our common enemies. For a few miraculous days, the rulers of the city, the police, the National Guard, were completely powerless. That tinderbox of ungovernable, multi-national rage at the system is still burning all over this country and the anti-war movement needs to join with it, and help it strengthen and grow, in order to actually, finally bring down U.S. imperialism,” continued Miller.

Miller called for a United Front against imperialism to be built in the United States and ended his speech with a call to free Alex Saab, a Venezuelan diplomat who has been imprisoned by the United States in Miami ever since being kidnapped by the U.S. government.

#WashingtonDC #AntiwarMovement #IraqWar

The events come in the context of the Iraqi parliament passing a resolution telling the United States to remove its forces from the country, and the country’s Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi requesting the U.S. to start talks on withdrawing military forces. The Trump administration says it will not leave Iraq.

In the past, the Balad Air Base housed a U.S. facility for holding and torturing Iraqi prisoners.

In related developments, Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units have vowed to end the presence of U.S. troops.

#WashingtonDC #AntiwarMovement #Iraq #Iran #US #MiddleEast #PeoplesStruggles #IraqWar #DonaldTrump

Minneapolis, MN – Around 200 protesters took to the streets here, March 21, to mark the 12th anniversary of the start of the U.S. war on Iraq. The protest called for an end to U.S. military intervention in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere and coincided with national anti-war actions, including an anti-war protest in Washington, DC at the White House on the same day.

The protest began at the busy intersection of Lake Street and Hiawatha Avenue in Minneapolis with protesters holding signs saying “Stop bombing Iraq and Syria,” “No new wars for the 1%,” and “Hands off Ukraine, Venezuela and everywhere.” After a short rally they marched on Lake Street, one of the busiest streets in Minneapolis, to Walker Church.

The U.S. is very much at war in Iraq again, and the war has extended to Syria. March 2015 marks 12 years since the start of the U.S. war in Iraq. Now, the U.S. is again at war in Iraq and the war is expanding into Syria. The Obama administration has requested a new Authorization for Use of Military Force from Congress, which will give a legal cover to more years of endless war. Reuters news service reported March 18 that a Pentagon report states that as of March 12, the U.S. military has flown 2320 air strikes since Aug. 8 at a cost of $1.83 billion, hitting thousands of targets. The new military intervention costs an average of about $8.5 million daily according to Reuters.

Loretta Van Pelt, a leader in the Welfare Rights Committee, spoke out at the opening rally. She explained, “The resources that are used to fight whoever and whatever could best be used to help low income people, more affordable housing, a living wage, the list goes on. They wonder why 50% of public school kids live in poverty, wonder why people still have a hard time finding a job even though the economy supposedly improved and the unemployment rate is going down. War is obviously not the answer, which is why we are here today! We need to keep rallying for peace, stop all wars and stop U.S. aggression!”

Sabry Wazwaz, a Palestinian American activist with the Anti-War Committee, spoke at Walker Church, “The U.S. government spends trillions of dollars on wars, invading other countries leaving over a million deaths of innocent civilians just for their own personal interests. Instead it should fix inner cities across the U.S. Instead of closing so many schools down in inner cities they should invest money into them and fix them. The U.S. should help its own citizens as millions of homeless sleep under bridges including thousands of vets themselves, build more care centers to help the mentally ill, and fix up the city of Detroit instead of sending billions to Israel.”

Speakers also condemned U.S. intervention in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Ukraine and Venezuela.

Joe Callahan, a spokesperson for the Minnesota Cuba Committee and a long time Latin America solidarity activist, addressed the crowd at the opening rally about the Obama’s recent actions against Venezuela, “On the other hand, here in the hemisphere, the U.S. has stepped up hostility toward Venezuela, they have declared sanctions against Venezuela and ominously proclaimed that Venezuela represents ‘an extraordinary threat to U.S. national security.’ Venezuelan leaders have sounded the alarm about U.S. organized coup plots, arresting the mayor of Caracas and expelling some U.S. embassy personnel. Food distributors are holding back food, and the right wing blames shortages on the government. It’s a very tense and dangerous situation. We need to stand together with Venezuela against U.S. intervention. Hands off Venezuela!”

The protest was organized by the Minnesota Peace Action Coalition. It was endorsed by AFSCME Local 3800, Alliant Action, Anti-War Committee, Committee for Palestinian Rights, Community of St. Martin, Every Church a Peace Church, Faith Mennonite Church, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Grandmothers for Peace, Marxist Student Federation, Mayday Books, Military Families Speak Out (MN chapter), Minneapolis Green Party, Peace and Justice Committee of Sacred Heart Catholic Church (St. Paul), St. Frances Cabrini Justice and Peace Committee, Socialist Action, Students for a Democratic Society (UMN), St. Joan of Arc/WAMM Peacemakers, St. Paul Eastside Neighbors for Peace, Twin Cities Peace Campaign, Veterans for Peace, Welfare Rights Committee, Women Against Military Madness, and Workers International League.

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #Iraq #Venezuela #IraqWar

When asked why the U.S. is not invading Syria or Iran, Mike Fox of the Progressive Democrats stated, “because of everyone in this room!” Fox was asserting that anti-war organizers in Florida and across the country are effective at creating public opinion opposed to U.S. air strikes and military intervention. Other speakers pointed to the fact that Syria and Iran currently stand against U.S. imperialism and have built up defenses against U.S. intervention and war.

Brian Moore of NCCPJ said that because “capitalism is crumbling and failing” the U.S. does not have the resources to carry out military action against these countries. A question was also posed about what the difference may have been had McCain (in 2008) or Romney (in 2012) been elected. Jesse Nevel of the Uhuru Solidarity Movement argued that both Democrats and Republicans “represent contending sectors of the ruling class” that have “different strategies, but the same imperialist goals” when it comes to U.S. foreign policy.

The panelists were united in their belief that U.S. intervention of any kind would only bring more death and destruction to the people of Iraq. They praised the Iraqi people for resisting U.S. domination and exploitation of their country for over a decade. Panelists spoke to the U.S. corporate media's narrative that the tensions in Iraq are due to longstanding sectarian divisions. Some spoke on how sectarian warfare is promoted by the U.S. and NATO to divide regions amongst imperialist countries to create the conditions of domination in the ensuing chaos.

Speakers noted that the people of Iraq and other countries subject to U.S. imperialism are bravely resisting the conditions and colonial borders imposed upon them by the West. The panelists and audience plan to organize against any threats of U.S. war and take to the streets in protest.  Gage Lacharite of Tampa Bay-Students for a Democratic Society said, “The protest will be yet another showing of anti-war and anti imperialist sentiment against MacDill AFB, the home of Special Ops in America.”

Organizers in the St. Pete/Tampa area are planning a demonstration for June 27 at 4pm on the corner of Gandy and Dale Mabry Boulevard, near the entrance to MacDill Air Force Base, home of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) where plans for U.S. warfare are drawn up.

#StPetersburgFL #AntiwarMovement #Iraq #IraqWar

Chicago, IL – 150 people protested President Obama’s threat of a new war on Iraq. Called by the ANSWER Coalition, and involving a number of other groups, including the Anti-War Committee-Chicago, the June 20 protest showed that there is a lot of opposition to U.S. plans.

The current U.S. military plan is to send in 300 military advisors, who are mainly special forces. On June 18, Obama stated, “And going forward, we will be prepared to take targeted and precise military action if and when we determine that the situation on the ground requires it.” Groups like the Anti-War Committee (AWC) – Chicago, think that when Obama says “targeted and precise military action,” he means drone strikes.

At Chicago’s protest, Kait McIntyre of AWC spoke. She said, “When I first got involved in the anti-war movement in 2007, there were many signs that said troops out now. It is now our duty to expand that demand. We must demand no U.S. drones, no U.S. military advisors, no special forces, no new U.S. war with Iraq! Hands off Iraq!”

As McIntyre further stated, “It is horrific and despicable that the U.S. government has apparently forgotten the death and devastation it left behind in Iraq.” Speaking about the tasks of the anti-war movement, she concluded, “We must remember this and remember what we as a movement are capable of. Just two years ago, Chicago had over 15,000 in the streets to protest NATO. We are a force to be reckoned with.”

#ChicagoIL #AntiwarMovement #Iraq #IraqWar #AntiWarCommitteeChicago

Minneapolis, MN – Speaking out against a new U.S. war in Iraq was the task of over 50 people who joined an anti-war protest here, June 21, along the sidewalks at Hiawatha Avenue and Lake Street, one of the most visible locations in the city on a Saturday afternoon.

The protest comes after the June 19 announcement by President Obama that 300 U.S. special forces troops will be sent to Iraq as ‘advisers.’ Obama also stated that targets are being sought for bombing or drone strikes.

Participants held signs and banners against a new war.

The Minnesota Peace Action Coalition (MPAC) initiated the call for the Saturday, June 21 event.

During the weekend, protests were held in cities around the U.S. – Washington DC, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and elsewhere – to speak out against new military intervention in Iraq.

MPAC issued a statement that says in part, “As of now the Obama administration and the Pentagon have launched a new round of military intervention in Iraq. This will not end well for the people of Iraq or the people of the U.S.”

“It was the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq that destroyed the country and brought about the current crisis. There is nothing the Pentagon can do with more air strikes and destruction to undo that or to bring about peace. The people of Iraq must determine their own future,” the MPAC statement continues.

“No one knows how this will end, but when people hear ‘military advisers’ are being sent, one should remember how the Vietnam war started, with small numbers of advisers,” the MPAC statement concludes.

Speaking at the protest, Jess Sundin of the Anti-War Committee said, “When the president talks about bombing or sending advisors or any other kind of military aid, we know that will only bring more destruction to Iraq. The people of Iraq don't benefit from air strikes any more than we do here, and that's why we come out to the streets again and again, any time there are threats of war against our sisters and brothers in Iraq.”

The June 21 protest was the second event in the Twin Cities to speak out on the new war crisis. On June 18 over 80 people joined a weekly peace vigil sponsored by Women Against Military Madness and Twin Cities Peace Campaign. The groups urged to people to join the weekly peace vigil on an emergency basis due to the new war crisis.

The June 21 protest was endorsed by AFSCME Local 3800, Anti-War Committee, Coalition for Palestinian Rights, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Mayday Books, Minnesota Cuba Committee, St. Joan of Arc WAMM/Peacemakers, Socialist Action, Southside Pride newspaper, Students for a Democratic Society UMN, Twin Cities Peace Campaign, Veterans for Peace, Women Against Military Madness, Workers International League and others.

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #Iraq #AntiWarCommittee #IraqWar #MinnesotaPeaceActionCoalition

The vigil, organized under the call, “No New U.S. war in Iraq!” will be held June 18 from 5:00 to 6:00 pm on the Lake Street/Marshall Avenue bridge over the Mississippi River.

Signs and banners protesting a new war are being prepared to use at the vigil, which will be seen by thousands of people during rush hour traffic. The End War Committee of Women Against Military Madness and the Twin Cities Peace Campaign sponsor the weekly peace vigil.

The Minnesota Peace Action Coalition (MPAC), an umbrella group of anti-war and peace groups, has endorsed the call for people to join others at the June 18 vigil. The Anti-War Committee is urging people to attend.

MPAC issued a statement that says in part, “It has become increasingly likely that the U.S. government will launch a new military intervention in Iraq. It is urgent that anti-war forces mobilize to tell the Obama administration that the people of this country oppose a new war in Iraq.”

The MPAC statement continues, “It was the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq that destroyed the country and brought about the current crisis. There is nothing the Pentagon can do with more air strikes and destruction to undo that or to bring about peace now. The people of Iraq must determine their own future.”

Area organizers plan additional activities against a new U.S. war in Iraq in the days ahead and are committed to organizing emergency protests if the U.S. starts bombing Iraq.

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #Iraq #AntiWarCommittee #IraqWar #MinnesotaPeaceActionCoalition

The corporate media in the U.S. play a powerful role in preparation for imperialist war. They play an even more insidious role in rewriting the history of U.S. wars and obstructing the purpose of U.S. wars.

They are totally intertwined with U.S. military, oil and banking corporations. In every war, this enormously powerful institution known as the ‘fourth estate’ attempts, as the public relations arm of corporate dominance, to justify imperialist plunder and overwhelm all dissent.

The corporate media’s reminiscences and evaluations this week of the 10th anniversary of the Iraq War, which began March 19, 2003, are a stark reminder of their criminal complicity in the war.

In the many articles there is barely any mention of the hundreds of news stories that totally saturated the media for months leading to the Pentagon onslaught. The news coverage in 2003 was wholly unsubstantiated, with wild fabrications of Iraqi secret ”weapons of mass destruction,” ominous nuclear threats, germ warfare programs, purchases of yellow cake uranium, nerve gas labs and the racist demonization of Saddam Hussein as the greatest threat to humanity. All of this is now glossed over and forgotten.

No weapons were ever found in Iraq, but no U.S. official was ever charged with fraud. Heroes such as Private B. Manning, however, face life in prison for releasing documents exposing the extent of some these premeditated crimes.

Today, in the popular histories, the barest mention is made of the real reason for the war: the determination to impose regime change on Iraq in order to secure U.S. corporate control and domination of the vast oil and gas resources of the region. Iraq was to be an example to every country attempting independent development that the only choice was complete submission or total destruction.

Now it is no longer even a political debate that the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq were a howling disaster and major imperialist blunder for U.S. strategic interests. Despite every determination to occupy Iraq with 14 permanent military bases, the U.S. army of occupation was forced to withdraw in the face of fierce Iraqi national resistance.

Bush stood on the deck of the U.S. aircraft carrier Lincoln on May Day 2003, with a “Mission Accomplished” banner behind him, to declare the war over. But what the U.S., puffed up by its imperialist arrogance, did not foresee was that the resistance had just begun.

U.S. strategists, so full of conceit about their powerful weapons, ignored the message displayed on signs, billboards and headlines of every Iraqi newspaper. It was even the headline of an English-language newspaper there, when this reporter was in Iraq with a solidarity delegation just a few weeks before the U.S. “shock and awe” onslaught.

The oft-repeated slogan was: “What the jungles of Vietnam were to their resistance, the cities of Iraq will be for us.”

The Iraqi government opened the warehouses and distributed six months of food rations to the population in advance of the war. Each package bore the sign: “Remember to feed a resistance fighter.” Small arms, explosives and simple instructions for making improvised explosive devices were publicly distributed.

Ultimately U.S. corporate power was defeated in Iraq due to its inability to be a force for human progress on any level. It was incapable of reconstruction.

The overpowering force of U.S. weaponry was able to destroy the proudest accomplishments of past decades of Iraqi sovereignty and inflame old sectarian wounds. But it was unable to defeat the Iraqi resistance or even gain a vote on a status of forces agreement in an Iraqi Parliament that the U.S. planners created.

U.S. media non-coverage

In covering the 10th anniversary, the same media that sold the war 24/7 recount the criminal decision to invade and occupy Iraq as just mistaken intelligence or wrong information. At the same time that they wring their hands over lost opportunities and lack of foresight, they give a passing salute to the 4,448 U.S. soldiers who died and the 32,221 wounded. At least 3,400 U.S. contractors died as well, a number barely mentioned or underreported.

More than 1.1 million U.S. soldiers served in Iraq. The National Council on Disabilities says up to 40 percent of veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury.

The U.S. invasion of Iraq was the most widely and closely reported war in military history. Yet the enormity of the crime committed against the Iraqi people, the hundreds of thousands of silent deaths from lack of medical infrastructure, the millions of refugees, the environmental catastrophe, the radioactive and chemical waste left behind were ignored in coverage then, and today are barely noted.

At the start of the war in March 2003, 775 reporters and photographers were registered and traveling as embedded journalists. The number grew to thousands. These reporters signed contracts with the military that limited what they were allowed to report on.

So it should come as no surprise that what is completely missing from coverage is any responsibility for the calculated destruction of Iraq, the massive corruption and systematic looting, or the conscious policy of inflaming sectarian hatred and violence as a tactic to demoralize the resistance.

Statistics cannot convey the human loss. One out of every four Iraqi children under 18 lost one or both parents. In 2007, there were 5 million Iraqi orphans, according to official government statistics. By 2008, only 50 percent of primary-school-age children were attending classes. Iraq was reduced from having the lowest rate of illiteracy in the region to having the highest. Women suffered the greatest losses in education, professions, childcare, nutrition and their own safety in the brutal occupation.

According to figures of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, there are now 2.7 million internally displaced Iraqis and 2.2 million refugees, mostly in neighboring states. More than one-fourth of Iraq’s population is dead, disabled or dislocated refugees due to the years of U.S. occupation. This is hardly liberation.

Missing in the many 10th anniversary evaluations is the essential historical context. The 2003 war was a continuation of the 1991 war to destroy Iraq as a sovereign nation in control of its own resources. There is barely a mention of the targeted destruction in 1991 of drinking water, sanitation, sewage, irrigation, communications and pharmaceutical industry facilities, as well as the civilian electric grid and basic food supply. Erased today is all mention of 13 years of U.S./U.N. starvation sanctions imposed on Iraq from 1990 to 2003, which caused the deaths, through hunger and disease, of more than 1 million Iraqis, more than half of them children.

Despite the horrendous toll, the failure of U.S./U.N.-imposed sanctions to create a total collapse in Iraq compelled U.S. corporate power to opt for a military invasion to impose regime change.

Second anniversary of wars in Libya, Syria

Also missing from evaluations of the U.S. war on Iraq is any mention that this is a week of two other war anniversaries.

March 19 is the second anniversary of the U.S./NATO war on Libya — the seven months of bombing that destroyed the modern, beautiful cities, schools, hospitals and cultural centers built with nationalized oil and gas of Libya. The NATO operation assassinated the Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi in 2011 and laid waste to the whole country. But it has not yet secured a stable source of U.S. profits.

March 15 is the second anniversary of the continuing U.S./NATO effort to destabilize and utterly destroy modern, secular Syria.

Despite U.S./NATO backing and funding from the corrupt feudal monarchies of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, diplomatic support, the arming of death squads and mercenaries, and the setting up of safe havens and bases in Turkey, the Syrian government has mobilized the population and resisted another U.S.-orchestrated regime change. The conflict is at a stalemate. The death toll has passed 70,000.

The Salvador option: mass terror

The clearest expose that the years of sectarian violence in Iraq following the U.S. invasion, death squad assassinations, mass terror campaigns and the harrowing use of torture by trained commando units were deliberate acts sanctioned and developed at the highest level of U.S. political and military command was published the week of March 18 in the London Guardian, with an accompanying BBC documentary film. The expose was based on 18 months of research.

The expose names Col. James Steele, a retired Special Forces veteran, who was sent to Iraq by then Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to organize paramilitaries to crush the Iraqi insurgency. Another special adviser, retired Col. James Coffman, worked alongside Steele and reported directly to General Petraeus.

This U.S. policy of counterinsurgency was called the “Salvador option” — a terrorist model of mass killings by U.S.-sponsored death squads. It was first applied in El Salvador in the 1980s’ heyday of resistance against a military dictatorship, resulting in an estimated 75,000 deaths. One million out of a population of 6 million became refugees.

The Salvador option is the central tenet of General David Petraeus’ often-praised counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Guardian researchers analyzed a number of documents from Wikileaks and assembled a huge number of reports of torture carried out by militias trained and supported by the U.S. under this program. The BBC and The Guardian report that their requests for comment to key members of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, which could investigate the allegations, were declined or ignored.

But in Samarra, an Iraqi city where Iraqis were tortured in a library and that the BBC documentary focuses on, residents held mass demonstrations against the government and planned to set up big screens in the central square to show the whole film.

‘Shock and awe’ = terror

From the very beginning of war preparation, U.S. plans were calculated to use the most extreme forms of terror on the Iraqi people to force submission to U.S. domination. “Shock and awe” is terrorism by another name.

“Shock and awe” is technically known as rapid dominance. By its very definition, it’s a military doctrine that uses overwhelming power and spectacular displays of force to paralyze and destroy the will to fight. Written by Harlan K. Ullman and James P. Wade in 1996, the doctrine is a product of the U.S. National Defense University, developed to exploit the “superior technology, precision engagement, and information dominance” of the United States.

This well-known military strategy requires the capability to disrupt “means of communication, transportation, food production, water supply, and other aspects of infrastructure.” According to these criminal military strategists, the aim is to achieve a level of national shock akin to the effect of dropping nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

War profiteers

The looting and pillage of Iraq on a grand scale were also planned from the very beginning. It was hardly an accident, a mistaken policy or the fog of war.

The official who had total authority in Iraq immediately following “shock and awe” destruction, the chief of the occupation authority in Iraq, L. Paul Bremer III, enacted 100 orders which turned Iraq overnight into a giant U.S.-dominated capitalist free market. The 100 orders guaranteed 100 percent foreign investor ownership of Iraqi assets, the right to expropriate all profits, unrestricted imports, and long-term 30- to 40-year deals and leases. In the official turnover to Iraqi sovereignty, these colonial orders were to stay in place.

Billions were stolen outright from Iraq. According to Dirk Adriaensens of the BRussells Tribunal, U.S. administrators, as the occupation “authority,” seized all Iraqi assets and funds all over the world — totaling U.S. $13 billion. They confiscated all Iraqi funds in the U.S. (U.S. $3 billion). They enforced transfers of funds from the Iraqi UBS account (Swiss bank) to the U.S. forces. They demanded and received from the U.N. the accumulated oil-for-food program funds up to March 2003 (about U.S. $21 billion).

In the first weeks of the occupation, U.S. troops got hold of about U.S. $6 billion as well as U.S. $4 billion from the Central Bank and other Iraqi banks. They collected this money in special government buildings in Baghdad.

Where did all these funds go? Instead of setting up an account in the Iraqi Central Bank for depositing these funds, as well as the oil export funds, the occupation authorities set up the “Development Fund for Iraq” account in the American Central Bank, New York Branch, where all financial operations are carried out in top secrecy. Around $40 billion is “missing” from a post-Gulf War fund.

According to the BBC, in June 10, 2008, another $23 billion in Western aid funds to Iraq were lost, stolen or “not properly accounted for.” Tales abounded of millions of dollars in $100 bills that went missing from skids at airports and of deliveries of pizza boxes and duffle bags full of cash.

According to BusinessPundit.com’s list of the 25 most vicious war profiteers, these stolen funds were just the beginning of the theft. Major U.S. corporations reported record profits. In the years 2003 to 2006, profits and earnings doubled for Exxon/Mobil Corp. and ChevronTexaco.

Halliburton’s KBR, Inc. division, which was directly connected to Vice President Cheney, bilked government agencies to the tune of $17.2 billion in Iraq war-related revenue from 2003 to 2006 alone.

The cost of war

Nobel laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz calculated the cost of the Iraq war, including the many hidden costs, in his 2008 book, “The Three Trillion Dollar War.” He concluded: “There is no such thing as a free lunch, and there is no such thing as a free war. The Iraq adventure has seriously weakened the U.S. economy, whose woes now go far beyond loose mortgage lending. You can’t spend $3 trillion — yes, $3 trillion — on a failed war abroad and not feel the pain at home.”

Stiglitz lists what even one of these trillions could have paid for: 8 million housing units, or 15 million public school teachers, or health care for 530 million children for a year, or scholarships to universities for 43 million students. Three trillion could have fixed America’s so-called Social Security problem for half a century.

According to a Christian Science Monitor report, when ongoing medical treatment, replacement vehicles and other costs are included, the total cost of the Iraq war is projected to cost $4 trillion. (Oct. 25, 2012)

Peoples resistance & the anti-war movement

The corporate media play another important role in rewriting history. Their aim is always to do everything possible to marginalize and disparage the awareness of millions of people in their own power.

While the “shock and awe” attack of March 19, 2003, is still described today, it is rare in the major media to see any reference to the truly massive demonstrations of opposition to the impending war that drew millions of people into the streets. it is projected that before the war, more than 36 million people in more than 3,000 demonstrations mobilized internationally to oppose it — in the two coldest winter months. This was unprecedented.

In Iraq, despite the overwhelming force of “shock and awe,” the planned use of sectarian war and mass use of death squads — despite the destruction of every accomplishment built by past generations, along with the destruction of schools and the confiscation of resources — the U.S. war failed on every count. Despite horrendous conditions, the Iraqi resistance drove the occupation out of Iraq. This is an accomplishment of great significance to people all around the world.

Source: http://www.workers.org/2013/03/19/iraq-10th-anniversary-of-u-s-crime-against-humanity/

#UnitedStates #AntiwarMovement #Iraq #mediaLies #IraqWar #MiddleEast

On the heels of the attacks on 9/11, the U.S. launched its criminal war in Afghanistan in October with the stated purpose of hunting down Osama Bin Laden. They launched their bombing campaign in the face of Taliban leader Mullah Omar's expressed willingness to cooperate in capturing Bin Laden. Come October 2011, this war will have dragged on for a decade, costing nearly $500 billion and the lives of 1670 U.S. troops, with tens of thousands of Afghans killed and seriously injured.

The illegal war in Iraq was instigated by Bush's lies regarding Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. In the political climate following 9/11, the corporate media supported and parroted whatever the White House and Pentagon said. The U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq cost $800 billion, the lives of 1.4 million Iraqis, more than 4000 U.S. troops dead and more than 100,000 wounded. It is noteworthy that more than 300 times as many deaths occurred in these two wars than in the 9/11 attacks. Likewise, since 9/11, under the guise of the ‘war on terror,’ the U.S. has expanded wars and interventions in Colombia, the Philippines, Palestine, Yemen, Syria, Pakistan, Sudan and elsewhere.

Most recently, the U.S./NATO attacked Libya, seeking to establish a firm foothold in North Africa. All of these wars and interventions are about nothing more than strengthening the power of U.S. imperialism and of lining the pockets of the U.S. ruling class with the spoils of war in the form of oil and other natural resources. For the people of these countries, it means war, occupation and repression, along with the complete violation of their national sovereignty.

All the while, the people of the world, from Afghanistan and Libya, to Colombia and the Philippines continue to fight for self-determination and national liberation. We in Freedom Road Socialist Organization, along with progressive people everywhere, support them with the knowledge that our struggles are linked. The U.S. ruling class, oppressor of nations all over the world, likewise stands on the backs of working and oppressed people here. While the economic depression creates havoc at home for working people, the rich and powerful act as war criminals overseas.

The U.S. government was quick to shift public opinion in its favor following the Sept. 11 attacks. Bush's “with us or against us” mentality left no room for sane discussion in the mainstream media. This fueled the fire for the notorious Patriot Acts that were quickly pushed through as part of the package deal of repression and war. As a result, an era of state terror against Arabs and Muslims began. Tens of thousands of Arabs and Muslims were subject to ‘special registration,’ put on no-fly lists, placed under surveillance and persecuted by the U.S.'s racist response to 9/11.

Not long after, it became clear that the web of domestic spying was being widened to include the progressive and anti-war communities generally. We understand this particularly well since the law enforcement officer “Karen Sullivan” infiltrated Freedom Road Socialist Organization, along with other groups we are active in, in the build up to the 2008 Republican National Convention in Minnesota. This infiltration led to the FBI raids on the homes and offices of 11 activists on Sept. 24, 2010, subpoenaing them to testify in a grand jury investigation concerning alleged “material support for terrorism.” Today, a total of 24 activists are targets of the investigation, with the threat of indictments looming.

U.S. imperialism is in decline, and the rich and powerful are growing more desperate by the day. As we said in our 2010 Main Political Report, “The 'war on terror' launched by the Bush administration was a dramatic attempt by the rulers of the United States to counteract the long running decline of Wall Street’s empire, by using military means. It ended in a series of defeat and stalemates, causing the phrase ‘war on terror’ to be quietly dropped from the Pentagon’s lexicon. The result is that on every continent, the U.S. finds itself struggling to find the methods and forms to maintain its domination, in the context of a declining ability to do so.”

The tragedy of 9/11 happened as a direct consequence of U.S. imperialist policy around the world. As long as these policies, which are part and parcel to the capitalist system itself, are allowed to continue, we will see further tragedy. The U.S. government repression, resulting from the cynical manipulation of this tragedy, has come down on FRSO and our friends because we have steadfastly resisted the ongoing wars and repression, both here and around the world. Likewise people around the world are continuing to fight back against the forces of empire. Despite all of the obstacles that face us in the days, months and years to come, we will continue to resist with all our might until, through mass struggle, a new era of peace, justice and equality is won.

#UnitedStates #InJusticeSystem #Editorials #PeoplesStruggles #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #warOnTerror #911 #IraqWar #September11 #September24FBIRaids #AfghanistanWar #LibyaWar #politicalRepression

Salt Lake City, UT – Students, military veterans and anti-war activists rallied here March 19 for the National Day of Action Against War.

March 19 now marks two significant events: the eighth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq and day one of the U.S.-led bombing and intervention into Libya.

More than 50 people turned out to declare their opposition to ongoing U.S. wars. Local activists spoke out against the U.S. war and occupations in Afghanistan and Iraq, especially the violence perpetrated by the U.S. against women. Kristen Lambert said in her speech, “No more will the rape of women in occupied countries by U.S. military and government officials be ignored.”

Another speaker talked about the repression of the anti-war movement here at home. In September, 2010 the FBI raided seven homes in Chicago and Minneapolis and now 23 anti-war and international solidarity activists have been called before U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald’s Grand Jury in Chicago.

The rally was capped off by a speech given by Aaron Davis, a member of Veterans for Peace, who called for an end to Wall Street investors’ wars that are financed on the backs of working-class people.

This rally marks the return of the anti-war movement in Utah. Several groups plan on organizing future events in light of the U.S. attacks on Libya and in response to the ongoing atrocities committed in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen and Pakistan. Brett Barrett, the head of the Revolutionary Student Union's anti-war committee said, “We are making plans for a campaign against military recruitment on campus to deter college students from enlisting in the U.S. empire’s wars. The Revolutionary Student Union will lead Utah's charge against these bloody wars!”

#SaltLakeCityUT #AntiwarMovement #Afghanistan #Iraq #IraqWar #VeteransForPeace #Utah #RevolutionaryStudentUnion #AfghanistanWar #Libya #LibyaWar

St. Paul MN – More than 600 people marched and rallied here, March 19, calling for an end to the U.S. war in Afghanistan and an end to the continued U.S. occupation of Iraq. The Twin Cities protest was one of many that took place across the U.S. to mark the eighth anniversary of the start of the war and occupation of Iraq.

The march, organized by the Iraq Peace Action Coalition, started with a rally at the Martin Luther King Center in Saint Paul and finished with another rally at the Minnesota State Capitol building.

Meredith Aby, of the Minnesota Committee to Stop FBI Repression told the crowd, “It is outrageous that the U.S. is using ‘protecting the right to dissent’ as an excuse to justify war against Libya, while anti-war activists are targeted right here in the U.S. for daring to criticize the U.S. government and protest against the very wars they are justifying! I join with you today to say, ‘Hands off Libya!’ and ‘End the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan!’”

Aby is one of the Twin Cities anti-war activists whose home was raided Sept. 24, 2010. She also received a subpoena to testify in front of the Chicago grand jury that is carrying out a witch hunt against international solidarity activists.

Jennie Eisert, of the Twin Cities-based Anti-War Committee, talked about an incident where FBI agents showed up at her job: “Back in the beginning of October they came to my work and harassed me, telling me that people I have worked closely with and who have been leaders in the anti-war movement for years – Jess Sundin, Meredith Aby and Mick Kelly – were manipulating me. They had the complete audacity to come to where I work, interrupt my day, have my manager bring me to them, then they whip out their badges… The attacks on our friends, on the Anti-War Committee, on us – the people fighting for justice is not going to end. It will not end with the 23 subpoenaed; it will not end until people start standing up, fighting back – with our words, with our feet, with our fists in the air – bringing it back to the street.”

#StPaulMN #AntiwarMovement #Afghanistan #Iraq #AntiWarCommittee #IraqPeaceActionCoalition #IraqWar #CommitteeToStopFBIRepression #AfghanistanWar #Libya #LibyaWar

Milwaukee – 150 people protested here, March 19, to demand an end to the wars and occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Two additional themes of the protest included a demand to stop Governor Scott Walker’s war on the people of Wisconsin and to stop FBI repression on anti-war and international solidarity activists.

Protesters marched throughout the city and chanted on behalf of workers and students who are facing unprecedented cuts and anti-union legislation.

Tom Burke, of the Committee to Stop FBI Repression, spoke at the protest. Burke urged people at the rally to sign the pledge to resist FBI and grand jury repression. The pledge is a commitment to take action when anti-war and international solidarity activists are called to the Chicago Grand Jury headed by Patrick Fitzgerald or are indicted.

Over 50 people signed the pledge during the course of the rally.

#MilwaukeeWI #AntiwarMovement #Afghanistan #Iraq #IraqWar #TomBurke #CommitteeToStopFBIRepression #AfghanistanWar #GovernorScottWalker #Wisconsin

Chicago, IL – 1000 people rallied and marched here March 19 to mark the eighth anniversary of the war in Iraq. A large contingent was organized by the Committee Against Political Repression (CAPR), which included many of the 23 persons subpoenaed to a grand jury for because of their anti-war and international solidarity efforts. Chants and signs carried the message that activism is not a crime. Seven of those subpoenaed are Palestinians. A large group of youth, mostly Arabs, carried a 60-foot long Palestinian flag behind the CAPR banner to show the unity of the Arab and Muslim communities with the fight to resist FBI and grand jury repression.

Stephanie Weiner, whose home was raided by 25 agents last fall, was the first speaker at the rally at the end of the march. She thanked the anti-war movement for six months of support for the targeted activists, calling out, “Courage, courage, courage,” as the watchword for those standing up to the repression. She made it clear that she and the other 22 people will continue to stand on the side of the people suffering through U.S. wars and occupations.

Several speakers condemned attacks against Libya. Ironically, just as the march was ending, the U.S. launched a massive cruise missile attack on Libya. As a result, March 19 will go down in history as the start date of two wars on Arab nations.

#ChicagoIL #AntiwarMovement #Afghanistan #Iraq #IraqWar #AfghanistanWar #CommitteeAgainstPoliticalRepression #Libya #LibyaWar

Minneapolis, MN – Anti-war events will be held in over 50 cities across the U.S. on March 19, calling for an end to the U.S. war in Afghanistan, an end to the continued U.S. occupation of Iraq and for a redirection of resources from war to human needs.

In the Twin Cities of Minneapolis-Saint Paul a coalition is planning a march and rally. The protest will assemble at 1:00 p.m. at the Martin Luther King Community Center, 270 N Kent Street in Saint Paul. A march will start at 1:30 and travel down University Avenue, ending at the State Capitol building for a rally at 2:15.

“The U.S. wars and occupations in Afghanistan and Iraq continue to cost billions of dollars, while needed social services, schools, health care and housing are facing huge budget cuts,” a statement issued by Twin Cities organizers says.

The statement goes on to say, “The people of Afghanistan and Iraq want an end to the wars and occupations. People throughout the Middle East are taking to the streets against repressive governments, many supported by U.S. military aid. The wars, occupations and meddling by the U.S. government in the affairs of the people of the Middle East must end.”

The March 19 date was designated a day for nationally coordinated local actions to mark eight years since the start of the U.S. war in Iraq.

“Even as we mark ten years of the war in Afghanistan and eight years of the war in Iraq, the U.S. government is considering yet another military intervention, this time in Libya. U.S. intervention cannot bring peace or democracy. The U.S. meddling must end and the peoples of the Middle East must be allowed to determine their own futures,” the statement concludes.

There will also be anti-war protests March 19 in Boston, Chicago, Madison, Los Angeles, San Francisco and many other cities.

The next step for the anti-war movement after the March 19 local protests will be a two of national anti-war protests set for the weekend of April 9 in New York City and San Francisco.

A feature at many of the March 19 protests will be expressing opposition to the ongoing FBI campaign against anti-war and international solidarity activists. Tom Burke, of the Committee to Stop FBI Repression urges activists to distribute the special flyer they created for the anti-war protests.

The flyer is available at: http://www.stopfbi.net/resources/flyer/flyer-opposing-war-not-crime

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #Afghanistan #Iraq #IraqWar #CommitteeToStopFBIRepression #AfghanistanWar

Minneapolis, MN – Activists in the Twin Cities anti-war movement responded to President Obama’s Aug. 31 nationally televised speech on the U.S. war in Iraq at a press conference immediate following his address. Representatives from Military Families Speak Out, Women Against Military Madness, the Anti-War Committee, the Twin Cities Peace Campaign and others said that the U.S. occupation will continue and that the anti-war movement needs to continue the effort to get U.S. troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan.

A statement issues by the organizers of the press conference noted, “The occupation of Iraq is being rebranded, but the people of Iraq want an end to foreign interference in their country and the people of the U.S. want an end to the occupation.”

Jenny Eisert of the Anti-War Committee stated, “President Obama tonight has declared that ‘the war is over.’ We disagree. The U.S still has about 50,000 troops in Iraq and is increasing the number of U.S. contractors.”

Mike Perkins of Military Families Speak Out said the war “is not over for families with loved ones currently serving in Iraq whose relatives have changed overnight from ‘combat forces’ to ‘advisors.’”

Marie Braun of Women Against Military Madness and the Twin Cities Peace Campaign condemned the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. She said, “The war in Afghanistan was never legitimate, it was never moral, it was never a ‘good war,’ and it is not going to keep us safe.”

Anti-war groups are planning several protests in the weeks and months ahead. The Anti-War Committee is organizing a Twin Cites protest against wars and occupations on Sept. 11.

National peace and anti-war groups have been invited to join a mass rally for Jobs and Justice called by the NAACP and many labor unions on Oct. 2 in Washington D.C. Plans are also being made for national protests on April 9, 2011.

The statement by organizers of the press conference concludes, “The anti-war movement will be in the streets demanding all U.S. troops be taken out of Iraq and for an end to the war in Afghanistan.”

#UnitedStates #AntiwarMovement #Iraq #IraqWar #BarackObama #MiddleEast

Washington D.C. – 300,000 marcharon aquí el 24 de septiembre en contra de la guerra y la ocupación de Irak. La gran cantidad de gente que vino a la marcha sorprendió a los organizadores. En la protesta anti-guerra más grande en Washington D.C. desde la época de la guerra en Vietnam, los manifestantes gritaron “¡No sangre por petróleo! ¡EEUU fuera de Irak!” Muchos tomaron fotos de amigos y familiares con consignas anti-guerra frente a la casa blanca.

El presidente Bush había evacuado la casa blanca antes de la marcha, para evadir la ola de gente protestando la guerra en Irak y su falta de acción durante el desastre del huracán Katrina. En Irak, la ocupación va de mal a peor, con la resistencia iraquí ganando fuerza y golpeando a las fuerzas de ocupación más fuerte y con más eficacia. El gobierno títere en Irak es corrupto y no es capaz de gobernar.

En la avenida Pennsylvania, el movimiento anti-guerra fue grande, amplio y fuerte. El contingente Bolivariano, formado por la Red de Acción Colombiana y los Círculos Bolivarianos en los EEUU, se unió con otros grupos como el comité anti-guerra de Minnesota y organizaciones de solidaridad con Palestina que llevaron una bandera palestina del tamaño de un bus. Todos se unieron a gritar, “Venezuela, Palestina, Colombia, Irak – ¡EEUU fuera y no regresen!” y “¡Bush, Bush, Bush! ¡Fuera, Fuera, Fuera!” Cientos de personas se unieron al contingente, gritando y animando a la gente que les vio. Jóvenes latinos se rieron cuando unas señoras copiaron su grito de “¡Bush – Mentiroso! ¡Encenderemos tu pantalón con fuego!” La gente que participó en esta marcha poderosa va a regresar a todas partes de los Estados Unidos para seguir construyendo el movimiento para terminar la guerra ya.

#WashingtonDC #AntiwarMovement #News #Iraq #AntiWarCommittee #ColombiaActionNetwork #IraqWar #EEUUFueraDeIrak

El ataque sobre Irak empezó con un fallído golpe sorpresa. Minutos antes de que los bombarderos cruzaran la ciudad, las sirenas ululáron con fuerza para dar el aviso a un Baghdad adormecido. Eran las 5:30 a.m. del 20 de Marzo, 2003. La fuerza total militar mas grande del mundo empezó su guerra de terror, a la cual le dieron el nombre de “Shock and awe.” (impacto violento sin aviso y respeto por temor o miedo.)

El mundo fue sorprendido violentamente por la brutalidad de los ataques. Dos mercados de Bagdad fueron bombardeados, matando a 100 civiles; tropas estadounidenses mataron 7 civiles al disparar a una familia en uno de sus reténes militares. Periodistas que recidían temporalmente en el Hotel Palestina, en Baghdad, sufrieron un ataque mortal, así como el que sufrieron los periodistas que trabajaban en la oficina de Al Jazeera, la red informativa del Medio Este. Estos actos ilegales e inmorales no pueden ser apoyados, al igual que las tropas que los cometen.

La invasión imperialista a matado 35,000 civiles iraquíes y herido a miles mas. En lugar de liberación, la guerra en Irak ha llevado destrucción y muerte. El pueblo Iraquí no tiene nada que decir sobre el futuro de su propio país, el cual está siendo patrullado por decenas de miles de tropas estadounidenses y saturado de retenes militares. El petróleo Iraquí está bajo el control directo de corporaciones norteamericanas.

Desastre Humanitario

Con 340,000 tropas en la región, y 125,000 en Irak, las fuerzas comandadas por los Estados Unidos lanzaron casi un millar de misíles crucero Tomahawk, dejaron caer 50 bombas de racimo, y descargaron alrededor de 12,000 de las llamadas bombas inteligentes. Aun antes de que el sitio a Bagdad empezara, 1,300 civiles habían muerto y más de 5,000 habían sido heridos. La mayoría fueron victimas de las bombas dejadas caer del cielo por pilotos cobardes que nunca enfrentaron a los hombres, mujeres y niñas cuyas vidas ellos destruyeron.

El bombardeo norteamericano dejó sin energía a una estación de agua que suplía a la sureña ciudad de Basra, poniendo en riesgo las vidas de un millón y medio de civiles. La guerra paró el envio de asistencia alimentaria a 17 millones de Iraquíes que dependen de esta. Simultaneo a los ataques terrestres de las tropas estadounidenses sobre la ciudad capital, la Cruz Roja Internacional reportó que los hospitales de Bagdad estaban saturados con cientos de pacientes llegando a cada hora. Millones están aun sin electricidad, agua potable o alimentos adecuados.

Irak se enfrentó al enemigo (si peleó)

El gobierno y pueblo de Irak hicieron todo lo que estaba de su parte para resistir este ataque brutal. Civiles y milicias voluntarios inmovilizaron o destruyeron tanques, y atacaron helicópteros y aviones por todo Irak. Estos actos de valentía y patriotismo inspiraron a los pueblos Árabes del Medio Este. Ellos inspiraron al mundo.

En el sur, donde el apoyo al gobierno Iraquí se suponía era débil, el pueblo defendió su país y luchó heroicamente en contra de las fuerzas Británico – Estado Unidenses. Marine Colonel Ben Saylor dijo: “Nosotros hemos sido contestados a cada pulgada, cada milla que conduce a Bagdad.”

Una semana despues de que las fuerzas estadounidenses llegaron a Bagdad, Bush declaro que el régimen de Sadam Hussein había caído. Pero aun así, las tropas norteamericanas no estaban a salvo si caminaban desarmados por las calles, y los equipos de camarógrafos no podían encontrar las celebraciones jubilosas de los Iraquíes que se habían prometido. En las imágenes hemos visto no más de doscientas personas que se han congregado en algún lugar de Irak para aplaudir y celebrar la invasión de los Estados Unidos. Al contrario, mas de 8,000 prisioneros de guerra Iraquíes fueron capturados mientras peleaban para defender su tierra en contra de la invasión.

Construyendo un mando militar Estado Unidense sobre suelo Iraqui robado

Ahora, la administración Bush planea establecer una ocupación militar completa, y un gobierno controlado por los Estados Unidos en Irak Las sanciones impuestas a Irak en los últimos doce años mantuvieron a Irak fuera del Mercado petrolero y de la arena política, pero el nuevo Irak será una base de la cual se expandirá el control económico, militar y político de los Estados Unidos sobre el Medio Este.

Desde el primer día, los soldados norteamericanos hicieron guardia sobre 600 pozos petrolíferos Iraquíes. Compañas petroleras de los Estados Unidos han sido contratadas para hacer funcionar estos pozos. Usarán dinero de las ventas del petróleo para reconstruir el devastado país, y tomarán parte de las ganancias para sí mismas. Antes de que empezara la guerra , el presidente Bush le pidió a los Iraquíes que no quemaran los pozos petrolíferos, ya que estos pertenecen al pueblo Iraquí. La nueva política petrolera sugiere que Bush nunca tuvo la intención de permitir que los Iraquíes retengan el control de sus propios recursos nacionales.

No hay planes del ejército de los Estados Unidos de dejar Irak. Tropas Estadounidenses todavía luchan activamente para controlar el país. En muchas ciudades la resistencia popular continúa con ataques diarios en contra de las tropas invasoras, sus aviones y bases militares. Retenes militares están siendo establecidos a lo largo de caminos importantes y en cada ciudad de Irak. Estos son los primeros puestos de una ocupación militar, y estos sitios continúan siendo el blanco de bombarderos suicidas (bombas humanas). Para implementar los planes de Estados Unidos, se necesitará que decenas de miles de tropas permanezcan en Irak por muchos años más. Irak, podría venir a ser la más grande base militar de los Estados Unidos en el Medio Este.

El futuro político de Irak es incierto. En estos días el ejército Estadounidense gobierna Irak. Dirige los medios de comunicación, la policía y otras dependencias civiles. Ni un solo Iraquí toma decisiones por su país. En los meses siguientes, un gobierno interino controlado por los Estados Unidos tomara el lugar del ejército. Voces oficiales de los Estados Unidos dicen que podría tomar años antes de que el correcto sistema de gobierno propio sea restaurado al pueblo de Irak. Esta no es liberación de un pueblo.

Los pueblos del mundo dicen ¡no!

Antes de que empezara la guerra en Irak, millones de personas tomaron las calles de las ciudades y barrios a lo largo y ancho del globo. Estas protestas hicieron imposible que se ganara la aprobación de la mayoría de los gobiernos del mundo a tal guerra. Imposibilitaron a la administración de Bush para que empezára la guerra en Febrero o a principios de Marzo. Hicieron imposible el que se dijera que ésta guerra se estaba llevando a cabo con el consentimiento del pueblo estadounidense.

La administración Bush tenía que responder. Primero, cambiaron planes – toda vez la guerra empezó, y las tropas no encontraron evidencia de Armas de Destrucción Masiva, el plan numero uno paso a ser la liberación del pueblo Iraquí. Luego, cuando la guerra empezó, los medios de comunicación pidieron a los manifestantes que dejaran de protestar, o por lo menos que apoyáramos a nuestras tropas. Algunos manifestantes empezaron a sacar carteles o rótulos en los que se leía: “Apoyemos nuestras tropas, tráiganlas a casa.” El pentágono trabajó muy duro para esconder el costo en vidas civiles de la guerra – casi no habían imágenes de Iraquíes muertos o heridos, o bombardeos en áreas civiles. Todo esto fue dirigido a desmoralizar y dividir al movimiento y mantener a los manifestantes contra la guerra fuera de las calles.

A pesar de todo esto, las protestas continuaron en los Estados Unidos. Los números fueron menores pero la militancia creció. Muchas ciudades organizaron campañas masivas de acciones directas y desobediencia civil. Miles de arrestos fueron hechos en acciones que bloquearon caminos y puentes, cerraron oficinas federales, y se puso presión a los que profitan de la guerra. Activistas en contra de la guerra a lo largo y ancho del globo insistieron que los negocios no iban a ser lo que usualmente son mientras las bombas caerán en Basra o Baghdad.

Mantener la lucha

Mientras la ocupación se establece, activistas en contra de la guerra no están preguntando si las protestas deben de continuar, pero están buscando dirección y trabajando para asegurar los logros obtenidos en meses recientes. Cientos de miles de personas formaron parte de la lucha en contra de la guerra en Irak. Estas personas necesitan mantener la lucha, seguir envueltos en otras luchas anti-imperialistas, y pelear la guerra en casa.

Mientras que el sector militar y los varónes de la industria petrolera están en contubernio de bandidos, el costo de la guerra para la gente trabajadora en los Estados Unidos continúa creciendo. En Abril, 2003, el Congreso aprobó ochenta billones de dólares para apoyar el esfuerzo de guerra, mientras se preparaba el recorte de beneficios y asistencia social, educación y salud. Casi cada estado está afrontando una crisis presupuestaria, y planean resolver estas crisis con mas recortes, y despidiendo trabajadores del sector estatal. Por todo lo que se ha dicho, la guerra no salvó la economía.

La guerra racista en Irak acarreo mas ataques racistas en casa, incluyendo la investigación y detención de Árabes y otros grupos de inmigrantes, diferencias raciales en los aeropuertos, y crímenes de odio. Y cuando se trata de corte presupuestario, comunidades oprimidas y los programas que les asisten, serán los más afectados.

En lugar de permanecer en silencio, el pueblo debe de hacer que la Administración Bush pague un alto precio por todo esto – por los pozos petrolíferos de Irak, y por los asaltos en contra de los pobres y la clase trabajadora aquí en casa. Activistas en contra de la guerra, deben de luchar aun más duro, para poner fin a la ocupación militar en Irak, en contra de la agresión Estadounidense en contra de Koréa del Norte, Colombia o donde sea, y finalmente por la igualdad y necesidades humanas aquí en casa.

#AntiwarMovement #Editorial #Occupation #Iraq #Editorials #IraqWar #MiddleEast

The American people don’t believe in the Bush doctrine. In an October Gallup Poll, Americans say 51% to 40% that ‘the United States should not attack another country unless that country has attacked the United States first.’ A Los Angeles Times poll released Dec. 17 also shows that the Bush administration is under increasing pressure. 72% of the people surveyed, including 60% of Republicans surveyed, said the president has not provided enough justification for starting a war against Iraq. This new poll shows a dramatic change from a year ago when the Los Angeles Times poll found support for military action against the ‘axis of evil’ to be greater than 70%.

Trade unions, community and student organizations are standing against the war. On Nov. 25, the membership of the Washington D.C. Teachers Union Local 6 overwhelmingly passed a resolution saying no to Bush’s war on Iraq. Hundreds of other locals and central labor bodies have done the same. Reed College joined hundreds of colleges throughout the country in passing anti-war resolutions in December. The Baltimore city council passed an anti-war resolution, becoming the 26th city to do so. In Brooklyn, over 1000 packed into the House of the Lord Church – New York’s first major anti-war demonstration in the African American community.

On Dec. 10, the anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, actions throughout the nation drew attention to the U.S. war threats against Iraq. Over 100 U.S. television and film stars, including Matt Damon, Samuel L. Jackson, and Martin Sheen, signed a petition saying, ‘war talk in Washington is alarming and unnecessary.’ There were demonstrations in Washington D.C. and Minneapolis.

Resistance has also been reaching suburban and rural areas that have not seen demonstrations since the 1960s. Smaller communities, like Lacey, Washington and Worthington, Minnesota have had new groups of people organizing bannerings, vigils and public meetings.

Internationally, resistance has been increasing. In Florence, Italy, on Nov. 10, half a million protesters took to the streets. Millions have taken to the streets of cities in Europe, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa to say no to the U.S. war against Iraq.

#UnitedStates #AntiwarMovement #News #Iraq #IraqWar #PrewarOpposition #MiddleEast

U.S. military and political preparations for a new war against Iraq are at a fever pitch.

The Washington Post reports that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld signed a deployment order to send 'significant' ground forces, combat aircraft and other units to the region. The Post also reported that a final buildup toward war could involve up to 250,000 Reserve and National Guard troops.

All movement of troops must, of course, be accompanied by the massive deployment of lies and misinformation. In mid-December, Secretary of State Colin Powell announced that the U.S. found the Iraqi report to the U.N. Security Council to be 'incomplete' and that it constituted a 'material breach' of UN resolutions.

Let's get this straight. In the view of the U.S. government, Iraq doesn't need to do anything or own anything or deploy anything in order to be in 'material breach.' According to Powell, Iraq's not reporting (nonexistent) 'violations' is a violation.

But let's leave aside the political fantasy being created by the Bush administration to justify its war and look at reality. While the Bush administration pushes ahead with its war plans, humanitarian aid agencies have warned that a new war in Iraq could create one million refugees.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Ruud Lubbers, said last week, “A war in Iraq will be a disaster from the humanitarian perspective.” Representatives of major relief organizations working in Iraq – Oxfam, Christian Aid, British Overseas Aid Group, ActionAid and the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development – have warned against war.

The Observer newspaper in Britain reported that the UN agencies believe that 'conditions in Iraq after years of sanctions are far worse than they were after the last Gulf war, with high levels of vulnerability and dependence.' This makes the people of Iraq very susceptible to disease and starvation.

As well as carrying out a buildup of U.S. military forces, there are reports that Washington is looking for some political or military force inside Iraq to carry out a coup.

The U.S. is preparing this war not out of any concern for the Iraqi people, but instead to put the U.S. in position as the dominant power in the oil-rich Persian Gulf region. All the talk of 'weapons of mass destruction' and inspections only provides a political cover for the war the U.S. wants to wage.

A statement issued by the International ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) Coalition spelled out the position of the Bush administration: “The Bush administration has never intended the 'inspections' process to serve as anything but a trigger for war. This is why the Iraqi cooperation with the inspection process and disclosure has failed to produce even the slightest slowing in the preparations for war and, in fact, has seemed to escalate the rhetoric from Washington, including recent policy statements confirming Bush's plans for the first use of nuclear weapons.”

MSNBC reported recently, “The most visible dogfight over Iraq's future is playing out in diplomatic circles, as the U.S. tries to convince its skeptical allies that a 'regime change' is imperative and military action inevitable. But another high stakes, yet much less visible, struggle is also quietly taking shape. Once U.N. economic sanctions on Iraq are lifted, who will develop – and control – Iraq's vast oil reserves?”

Iraq is believed to have an estimated 112 billion barrels of crude oil, second only in size to Saudi Arabia.

MSNBC also reports, “So far, U.S. oil companies have been stuck on the sidelines of the Iraqi oil rush. Even if Saddam wanted to enlist U.S. firms in the rebuilding Iraq's oil infrastructure, U.N. sanctions – as well as U.S. laws – have barred American oil companies from dealing with Baghdad. But some analysts say it's unlikely that American firms will be left empty handed if the U.S. follows through on threats of military action.”

“If you turn up and it's your tanks that dislodged the regime and you have 50,000 troops in the country and they're in your tanks, then you are going to get the best deals,” said Credit Suisse First Boston oil analyst Mark Flannery. “That's the way it works. The French will have three men and a 1950's tank. That's just not going to work.”

Modern political and economic power needs military power. Modern U.S. capitalism depends on U.S. military force to maintain its position around the world.

The break-up of the Soviet Union and the socialist camp brought the cold war to an end. As a practical matter, an important block of countries that challenged U.S. attempts at hegemony ceased to be a political factor. Right now, Washington intends to use the political atmosphere created by the events of Sept. 11, 2001, to carry out a series of military interventions around the world. The Bush administration is looking to create the conditions for the U.S. to reign as the dominant world power.

While the war pressure builds against Iraq, the anti-war movement in the U.S. and around the world also grows.

But the anti-war movement will also face great pressures, especially if the U.S. initiates its war.

During the Persian Gulf War in 1991, a great hoopla was created by commentators, saying the 'country would welcome home the G.I.'s as heroes, not spit on them like the returning Vietnam veterans.'

Out of thin air, a great lie was created that the anti-war movement during the Vietnam war spat on returning G.I.'s.

In fact, returning G.I.'s entered the anti-war movement in great numbers, led many anti-war actions and spoke with a voice of moral authority against the government and its war. One of the reasons the U.S. had to pull out of Vietnam was that G.I.'s were in open rebellion against the war and their officers. The Pentagon was afraid of the G.I's.

But, in order to disorient the anti-war movement, the lie that G.I.'s were spat on was repeated so many times it became accepted as the truth in many circles, including among some of those actively opposing the Gulf War.

The way to 'support the troops' is to prevent the war, and to support the active duty G.I.'s who resist the war. The troops are not being sent on a humanitarian mission, but as the armed wing of U.S. corporations that see conquering Iraq as a step on the path towards dominating the world.

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In its attempts to quickly force consent upon its people and the world in the face of such formidable opposition, the Bush administration failed to garner international support through the United Nations or to even put the question to the U.S. Congress.

Despite the efforts of mass movements around the world, the people were only able to delay the Bush war machine, not stop it. On March 19, Iraq once again was showered with the full brunt of U.S. bombs, followed by a massive ground war.

The day after the bombs started dropping, millions poured into the streets of the major cities of the world. In Minneapolis 1,500 students came out to protest at the University of Minnesota campus, including students who walked out of dozens of high schools and middle schools. Later, almost 10,000 took to the streets in the freezing rain.

Hundreds of thousands came out in other major cities, shutting down major business districts in San Francisco and Los Angeles. The tidal wave of protests swept from Austin, Texas to Chicago; it shook the east coast and moved to the steps of the White House. Arrests in most major cities showed that it would not be business as usual, as major business areas were shut down and streets taken over.

Around the world, people came out to protest U.S. aggression and denounce the ringleaders of its corrupt regime. In Yemen, a protest ended up with two being killed in clashes with the police, amidst chants of, “Death to the U.S., death to Israel.” In Malaysia, 5,000 marched chanting “Death to Bush.” In Europe and Japan, millions took to the streets.

Here in the U.S., domestic attacks are reaching all sections of people. The poor are dying on the streets as billions are spent in bombs. Schools are facing some of their toughest times, as funding is being cut to already under-funded programs. Labor unions’ hard earned rights are being taken away in the name of ‘domestic security.’ Immigrants are getting the door slammed in their face; many of them are disappeared, taken in for questioning.

When the African American family members of Marine Sergeant Kendall Damon Waters-Bey, one of the first Americans killed in the war, denounced Bush’s war on Iraq, their outrage was turned into a 30-second sound bite, that quickly disappeared from the media. Sergeant Waters-Bey’s father was right to say, “Bush, you took my only son!”

Across the U.S., communities of people are standing up against the war and occupation. Doctors and Nurses Against the War, Neighbors for Peace, Educators for Peace, Students Against War, Veterans for Peace and others are standing together, united against the danger at home, U.S. imperialism. The people have spoken and they will continue to stand up and speak out again this unjust war.

No justice, no peace! U.S. out of the Middle East!

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