BY RAY PARSONS
AMES, Iowa - The Young Socialist sponsored a well-attended
teach-in on Iraq at Iowa State University (ISU) here February
17. The meeting, entitled "What's Behind the continuing U.S.
Aggression Against Iraq?" included presentations from Young
Socialists members Gustavo Herrarte and Amanda Ulman and from
ISU professor Mack Shelley. Some 35 students participated in
the meeting.
Herrarte, an ISU graduate student, opened the meeting with the history of imperialist domination of the Mideast. Shelley followed with facts about the 1991 Gulf war and its aftermath, pointing to the hundreds of thousand of Iraqis who have died as a result of U.S.-imposed sanctions. Ulman, a packinghouse worker emphasized the connection of Washington's ongoing attacks on Iraq to the capitalist "war at home against workers' conditions of life and on the job.... We must demand the U.S. get out of Iraq, and oppose the `no-fly zones.' "
One student objected to the broad political perspective laid out by Ulman, and urged that discussion be focused on Iraq itself.
Other students responded that it was important to discuss the struggles of workers in the United States and worldwide in order to understand the U.S. war moves in Iraq.