The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.61/No.43           December 8, 1997 
 
 
No To Washington's War Moves  
U.S. hands off Iraq! Lift the embargo and get all the "inspectors" out of the country! End the U-2 spy flights and the "no-fly" zones that violate the country's sovereign air space!

That's what all young people, workers, and farmers -anyone opposed to the imperial use of Washington's economic and military might to subjugate oppressed nations and fatten the profits of U.S. employers - needs to demand through protests in the streets, speakouts, and forums.

The U.S. government broke its teeth during the 1990 - 91 war against Iraq. It was unable to overthrow the regime in Baghdad and replace it with a protectorate in order to increase its domination in the region and its control over Iraqi oil. The coalition Washington patched together seven years ago has been shattered, as the recent events show, because interimperialist competition has become more the order of the day in a capitalist world marked by banking crises, political instability, and the threat of a deflationary collapse.

The Clinton administration was defeated in its attempt in mid-November to start a war against Iraq. But the U.S. war drive was set back because of the relationship of forces among the imperialist powers, not as a result of an upsurge in resistance by the toilers in the Mideast or in the United States. That means that the fuse that can ignite another attempt at a devastating military bombing against the Iraqi people hasn't gotten any longer.

Weakened on a number of fronts, the Clinton administration is in fact more likely to lash out and unleash its weaponry, to which the "five pounds of anthrax" pales in comparison. That is exactly what war secretary William Cohen is hammering on when he demands the "right" for U.S. agents to go anywhere they please on Iraqi soil. The fact that the immediate threat of a military strike has been averted for the moment should not fool class-conscious workers and rebel-minded youth into letting their guard down.

At the same time, working people need to be vigilant against being drawn toward the "America First" campaigns of the ultrarightists who beat the war drums by advocating "American unilateralism," as Patrick Buchanan just did. Supporting the protectionist demands of defending "American" or "Canadian" jobs pushed by the trade union officialdom through their campaigns against APEC, NAFTA, or fast track legislation is one way to get drawn into bourgeois patriotism and the war drive.

These labor tops have increasingly converged with ultrarightists of the Buchanan type in defense of "the nation" and "our country." In actions opposing these trade pacts throughout North America, called by labor tops and others, slogans in defense of "American" or "Canadian" jobs have dominated the scene along with openly rightist demands.

Instead of joining such actions, class-conscious workers need to advocate international working class solidarity and organize actions demanding "Stop the war drive against Iraq now!"

 
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home