Are Schroeder & Chirac 'ant-war'?
Imperialist rivalry at the UN talks
By John Catalinotto
On Sept. 18 an intense week of negotiations on
the future of Iraq's occupation began--without the Iraqis.
First a Berlin summit of German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder
and French President Jacques Chirac, then the two of them with
British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Sept. 20. Further talks
between Bush, Chirac and Schroeder are set for New York as the
United Nations opens.
In much of the capitalist media, these talks are described
as negotiations between Bush and the "anti-war" forces
regarding Iraq. This description is misleading about the role
of the European leaders and the ruling classes they
represent.
Chirac and Schroeder head two of the five most powerful
imperialist countries and are the main spokespeople for the
European bosses and bankers. They have class interests in
common with U.S. billionaires as far as keeping the workers and
oppressed nations of the world in chains. But they have sharply
competing financial, trade and industrial interests.
They had no qualms about sending German and French planes to
bomb Yugoslavia and its people. Both states grabbed a slice of
Kosovo. German economic interests bought on the cheap much of
the profitable industry in Serbia after the Milosevic
government was ousted. Both also joined the occupation of
Afghanistan.
But they saw the U.S.-British bloody aggression in Iraq as
dangerous for them, in at least two ways.
One, it might arouse the entire people of the Middle East
against all the imperialists and threaten disaster for them
all.
Two, should it result in a quick U.S. victory, then 99
percent of the spoils of that victory would go to U.S. oil,
construction and other transnational corporations. U.S.
imperialism would control another 10 percent of the world's oil
and be in a position to squeeze European--and
Japanese--companies.
In addition, their populations wanted to avoid war. In
Schroeder's case, his temporary anti-war stance was the only
thing that saved his reelection in September 2002.
Bush and Company are aggressive warmongers. But Chirac and
Schroeder are "anti-war" only where they fail to get a share of
the spoils.
U.S. wanted to win alone
The plan of the Bush administration--especially of the
clique led by Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Paul
Wolfowitz--was to have the U.S. use its overwhelming firepower
to win the war, only bringing in Britain as a junior partner.
They had no desire to share spoils with their rivals in what
Rumsfeld called the "old" Europe, but planned to use Iraq as a
big step toward a U.S. empire.
By the end of April, they thought they had succeeded. Bush
on May 1 declared that the war was over. The administration
started dishing out contracts to Halliburton, Bechtel and other
favorite corporations, and laid plans to distribute oil
concessions.
They forgot that the Iraqi people might keep on fighting.
Starting in May, about one GI was being killed each day.
Another four would be wounded and 10 others would fall ill.
Meanwhile, millions of Iraqis found ways to demonstrate their
hatred for the occupiers.
They also forgot that the GIs and their families were not
robots or slaves, but human workers who had been deceived about
what the Iraq war was all about. Pressure started building
among the troops themselves to go home.
The Iraqi people are suffering horribly. That is true. But
it is also true that U.S. imperialism is in big trouble in
Iraq. Everyone is talking about Vietnam and quagmires all over
again.
Bush may sound self-assured and confident, even arrogant
when he speaks to the UN. But in reality he is asking Chirac
and Schroeder and the Japanese and other imperialists for help
in carrying out the occupation of Iraq. To get that help he
will have to make concessions. That is, he will have to offer
France and Germany, and maybe Russia, part of the Iraq
loot.
Neither Chirac nor Schroeder want the Iraqis to win a
guerrilla war against U.S. imperialism. That would be too
threatening to imperialist interests worldwide. Schroeder has
said, "The U.S. superpower in the Persian Gulf remains in
Germany's vital interest."
Schroeder acted on these words during the war on Iraq, when
he allowed the U.S. free use of bases in Germany.
The imperialists rivals will be bargaining, and bargaining
hard, over how Iraq will be divided.
Should they succeed in reaching an agreement, it will
increase the dangers to German and French youth, increase
hardships for the European working class, and most of all make
it harder for the heroic Iraqis to drive the imperialists
out.
Anti-war forces in the U.S., Germany, Britain and France
should have nothing but solidarity with each other's struggles.
And they should wish that their rulers continue to be at odds
about intervention in Iraq. That would be best also for the
Iraqi resistance movement.
Reprinted from the Oct. 2, 2003, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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