The US imperialists have, for the last few weeks, been forcing the UN and all other countries to accept their demand for legitimizing aggression on Iraq. This most unwarranted aggression is part of the US imperialist drive to assert their authority over Asia and the world.
The US imperialists have, for the last few weeks, been forcing the UN and all other countries to accept their demand for legitimizing aggression on Iraq. This most unwarranted aggression is part of the US imperialist drive to assert their authority over Asia and the world. This is one of the most dangerous moves made by the imperialists since the end of the cold war and is loaded with dangerous consequences for all the peoples of the world.
The central premise of the US imperialist demand for being allowed to attack Iraq is a ‘regime change’. According to them, the current regime in Iraq presents a threat to the peace and security of the entire world, and must be removed by force. This premise of the US imperialists itself is most unprincipled and dangerous to the peace and sovereignty of all peoples and nations. It completely disregards the rights of peoples to have political and social systems of their own preference. What kind of political system Iraq has, and which individuals hold positions in its government is only a matter for the people of Iraq to decide and no one else.
Imposing political systems and regimes on various countries is an abominable practice imperialists have followed for long. The Paris Charter of 1991 drawn up by the imperialists at the end of the Cold War, for example, declared that if any country was to be declared "civilised", it must have a multi – party political system and a free market. All other countries and regimes are liable to be branded as rogues and attacked at will.
The US imperialist have been shouting themselves hoarse that the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq is a threat to world peace, while the whole world knows well that the greatest threat to peace and sovereignty of the worlds’ peoples comes only from the US imperialists and their allies.
In the aftermath of the revolution in Iran in 1979 which overthrew the hated regime of the Shah of Iran, the US imperialist tried might and main to discredit the new regime in Iran and embroil it in war. The US imperialists were responsible for giving "weapons of mass destruction" in the first place to Iraq and instigating Iraq then to attack Iran. The US imperialists were responsible for the Iran – Iraq war which went on for almost a decade, killing thousands and wasting millions of dollars worth of resources.
It was the imperialists again who were responsible for Iraq attacking Kuwait in early 1990. They then came down heavily with all the forces of destruction at their command to subjugate Iraq, killing tens of thousands in the process. They used their clout in world bodies like the UN to impose various unequal and abhorrent conditions on Iraq. These included imposition of areas inside its territory where Iraq could not fly military aircraft, sending in teams of inspectors who could access all installations and "check for weapons and weapon factories" etc.
When the US imperialists sold weapons of mass destruction to Iraq in the eighties, was it legitimate, just because they were to be used against Iran, a country that they then wanted to embroil in war? When various imperialist powers aggress on other countries, are such conditions imposed on them? Clearly, the conditions imposed on Iraq, similar to the conditions imposed on Germany after the first world war, are essentially unequal, imbalanced and in fact unjust. While their stated purpose may be to stop war, they have in fact, an opposite effect.
The U S imperialists had earlier been harping on the fact that Iraq was not allowing weapons inspection teams to go in unhindered. This plank was however deftly removed by the Iraq government in the middle of September 2002, when they wrote a letter to the UN secretary general saying that they would allow international weapons inspectors to return "without conditions." The Iraq government said that its decision to unconditionally allow weapons inspectors back into the country had eliminated any reason for an attack.
Opposition to the war which the US imperialists want to unleash on Iraq is quite widespread. While the US was in fact quite isolated when it came out with its demand a few weeks ago, it has since worked might and main to force its allies to tow its’ line. Some countries like France have since said that if the UN sanctions an attack, they would be not be averse to being part of a multi national attack force. German Chancellor Schröder however has said that under him, Germany will neither help in any war against Iraq nor help pay for one. This stance has in fact been taken in the context of the election which he is now fighting and has reportedly been appreciated by the German people.
The U S imperialists have been working hard to convince their own people of the necessity to attack Iraq. In the ceremonies held to commemorate the September 11, 2001 attacks, the imperialist spokesmen have made use of the occasion to drum up anti – Iraq feelings. The US Congress must authorize the use of military force against Iraq before the UN Security Council votes on the issue, US Defense Secretary Rumsfeld insisted.
In a letter to the General Assembly, sent on 19th September 2002, Saddam Hussein has declared that Iraq is clear of all nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. "The U.S. administration wants to destroy Iraq in order to control the Middle East oil, and consequently control the politics as well as the oil and economic policies of the whole world. If it succeeded in that, God forbid, it would dictate on you what each country needs for its economic development, what quantities of oil it is allowed to buy, and at what prices, along with other conditions. . . If there are any one amongst you who might still worry that the fabrications announced by American officials about Iraq may possibly be true, our country is ready to receive any scientific experts accompanied by politicians you choose to represent any one of your countries to tell us which places and scientific and industrial installations they would wish to see, particularly those about which the American officials have been fabricating false stories. . . ."
It is important that all freedom and peace – loving people staunchly oppose the US imperialist drive to attack Iraq.