IMPERIALISM EXPOSED
Iraq bombing deepens U.S. isolation
By John Catalinotto
For four days, from Dec. 16 to 19, huge bombs launched by
the U.S. and Britain killed and wounded many Iraqis and
destroyed sections of Iraq's economic infrastructure. But when
it was over, even though the imperialists took no casualties in
their high-tech exercise of military power, officials in the
Clinton administration found themselves diplomatically isolated
and scrambling to explain at home just what this carnage had
gained them.
This new aggression against a country already severely
wounded by sanctions aroused protest actions throughout the
world, including massive and militant reactions in all the Arab
capitals. Protests were also widespread in the U.S., Britain
and other imperialist countries.
In the United Nations, Security Council members Russia,
China and France called for an end to economic sanctions on
Iraq. Even though these three represent a majority of the
council's permanent members, however, it is the U.S. and its
junior partner Britain that have always called the shots.
Pentagon generals claimed a wondrous military victory. But
on Dec. 20, just hours after the bombing ended, Secretary of
State Madeleine Albright and Secretary of Defense William Cohen
were already threatening a new round of destruction in the near
future--in flagrant disregard of world opinion.
President Bill Clinton and the Pentagon had violated
international law and the Charter of the United Nations with
the bombings and missile strikes. They had paid no attention to
the opposition in the Security Council. They went ahead even
though the support they had pulled together at the time of the
1991 Gulf War through bribes and arm-twisting had dwindled to
just one--Britain, the hated former colonial power in the Gulf
region.
Clinton claimed the raids were to make Iraq less dangerous
to its neighbors--a ridiculous lie from an admitted liar. The
Iraqis have been not only disarmed but starved by eight years
of genocidal sanctions that have killed 1.7 million people.
The U.S. political goal, as openly stated by the White House
and Congress, is to replace the current Iraqi government with a
puppet regime that submits to Washington's decisions. Congress
has allocated $97 million for this purpose.
The unspoken motive of the imperialist ruling class is to
reap fabulous profit from Iraq's vast oil reserves.
Measured against these aims, the four days of aggression
were a failure.
What did the Clinton administration accomplish? It displayed
U.S. military power and the ruthlessness to employ it. This
message is directed not only at demonized countries like Iraq,
north Korea and Yugoslavia, but at imperialist rivals in Europe
and Japan.
But for Washington to even think of installing a puppet
regime in Iraq, it would have to commit to massive open-ended
bombing and probably occupation by ground troops. Such a course
would surely arouse a firestorm of resistance both at home and
abroad.
Still, the anti-war movement must stay alert to combat such
an eventuality, since the relentless appetite of U.S.
imperialism leads it to wild adventures.
How Iraqis reacted to aggression
Baghdad reacted to the four days of bombing with calm and
determination. Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz told reporters
Dec. 20 that "The moment America and Britain launched missiles
against Iraq, they killed UNSCOM"--the U.S.-manipulated
inspection body.
Aziz said UNSCOM could not be revived by simply removing
Richard Butler, whose anti-Iraq report was the pretext for the
raids. He called Butler merely "a cheap pawn in the hands of
the Americans."
A Dec. 22 Reuters report showed the Iraqi people shared this
attitude. "Let them bring all their high-tech weapons here and
strike us again. We will fight them whatever sacrifices are
required until these unjust sanctions are lifted," said Baghdad
taxi driver Badr Abdul-Hassan.
In the four days, the Pentagon launched 425 Tomahawk cruise
missiles--at a cost of about $1 million each--and flew 650
fighter and bomber sorties. It flew the costly and
controversial B-1 bomber for the first time in combat.
The top brass claimed at least some damage to 70 of 100
targets attacked, but admitted they were unsure of the
extent.
Kathy Kelly of Voices in the Wilderness, in Iraq to protest
the U.S. bombing, reported blast damage to two civilian
hospitals. There were also reports that a university dormitory
had been hit and 20 youths killed. In Tikrit, where Saddam
Hussein was born, missiles destroyed a UN warehouse full of
rice.
Aziz said 62 Iraqi soldiers were killed and 180 wounded,
while civilian casualties were much higher. Aziz also told
reporters Dec. 21 that Iraq would stay on alert and expected
new raids after the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Protests throughout
Arab world
Hundreds of thousands came out in protests across North
Africa and the Middle East.
Newspapers in the Arab world--even in the Gulf states most
closely tied to U.S. imperialism--uniformly opposed the bombing
raids. So did the Egyptian press, although Egypt depends on
U.S. military aid.
Even client state Saudi Arabia refused to allow U.S. planes
to take off from U.S. bases there, as did Kuwait with the
British.
In Iran, which had fought an eight-year war with Iraq,
Tehran Radio criticized the U.S. and Britain for taking
unilateral military action.
The Russian government, which has gotten little from
imperialism for its anti-communist counter-revolution,
expressed anger that the U.S. attacked without consulting the
UN Security Council. Russia withdrew its ambassadors from
Washington and London for a week, and demanded UNSCOM head
Richard Butler be fired.
French former Defense Minister Paul Quiles accused the U.S.
of humiliating UN Secretary General Kofi Annan by playing
"world policeman" and attacking Iraq without UN approval.
British former Labor Defense Secretary Lord Healey called
the bombing illegal and criticized Prime Minister Tony Blair.
He said: "The damage it has done to Britain's position ...
outweighs any advantage [Blair] gets from supporting a lame
duck in the United States." Both Labor Party politicians,
however, are flunkies of British imperialism who have taken the
party to the right in both foreign and domestic policy.
It is the mass opposition in the streets that has caused
bourgeois politicians from Cairo to Moscow to London and Paris
to speak out against this criminal attack. That and the fear of
where things are heading when a rogue imperialist super-state
becomes too impatient and arrogant to even bother with the
diplomatic niceties before embarking on yet another exercise of
raw aggression.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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