U.S. out of the Middle East

Workers in this country cannot afford to remain neutral on the question of the U.S.-Israeli war against Lebanon and Palestine because too much is at stake. The dangerous widening of the war in the Middle East not only threatens the safety of the people of that entire region but it impacts workers right here in the U.S.

Death and destruction widen

At present, according to very conservative estimates, 384 people have been killed in Lebanon by the Israeli offensive. The vast majority are civilians. Some 750,000 people are now displaced, trying to escape from the bombed-out cities and towns. It is as though every person in a city the size of Baltimore or Detroit instantly became homeless.

Hospitals are overflowing with the injured while hospital workers labor all day and night to save lives, fearful they too will be attacked. Health workers report treating children with horrible burns from phosphorus weapons—which are banned by international law. The U.S. used phosphorus bombs in Vietnam.

Ambulance worker Kassem Shalan exclaimed to an Associated Press reporter, “One of the rockets hit right in the middle of the big red cross that was painted on the top of the ambulance. This is a clear violation of humanitarian and international law.” He provided a home video of this incident to news media.

Cars and trucks leaving areas after Israel told the people to evacuate have themselves been blown up by the attacking planes.

In Beirut itself, there is a stark contrast between the areas that the Israeli air force has bombed and the areas that remain tranquil. In the southern suburbs populated by workers and the poor, Israeli bombers have reduced whole neighborhoods of large apartment buildings to rubble. But restaurants and business areas nearby that cater to the well-off have been left unscathed.

Israeli terror made in U.S.

Even some of the news media are now admitting that Israel’s brutal war on Lebanon is seen all over the world as having been planned and executed in open collaboration with the U.S. government. This means the Bush administration is behind the launching of yet another criminal war. And again, the excuse given—the capture of just two Israeli soldiers—is nothing but a smokescreen for a long-planned offensive.

The real reason is the same as for the war in Iraq—to try to extend the control of Big Oil over the entire Middle East by beating down any people who defend their national sovereignty.

Every bomb that lands on the home of a Lebanese or Palestinian family has been manufactured and made in the U.S. Israel is a client state and cannot act on its own. It is an outpost for U.S. imperialist domination.

Who profits and who dies

Even as this government provides Israel with millions of dollars worth of costly weapons to attack the people of Lebanon—including cluster bombs that target civilians—tens of thousands of people here in the United States haven’t recovered from the effects of Katrina and even earlier hurricanes.

Each bomb dropped on Lebanon also explodes in poor and oppressed communities here. The money spent to kill and maim could provide health care for all. It could rebuild cities and infrastructure, like the levees in New Orleans, rather than foster a deadly and purposeful policy of racism and neglect that still has not been addressed.

The same military-industrial-banking-oil complex that profits from and wages war is also responsible for falling wages and a heavier tax burden on working people.

High gas and oil prices have emptied workers’ pockets, proving that the Middle East war is not about cheap oil but is about the oil companies making profits and controlling the flow of this commodity.

Racism, lies and war

Racism is a tool of divide and conquer—whether it is aimed at scapegoating immigrant workers, criminalizing the survivors of Katrina, or demonizing Arab and Muslim people to convince workers at home to support the war.

One of the bigger lies is that the war in the Middle East is about religion rather than economic and military interests. Lebanon itself is a country made up of a diverse variety of religions, who have coexisted for millenia.

Every worker who understands anything about justice has to know that when Bush insults whole nations and sends missiles, bombs and troops in our name to bludgeon them into submission, he creates division, hatred and anger among the peoples around the world. This is a prescription for more 9/11 disasters.

The only answer is for the U.S. military to get out and allow the people of the Middle East to control their own resources, choose their own leaders and determine their own destiny.

It is not enough for poor and working people here to fight for pensions, health care and a higher minimum wage. Militarism will continue to eat away at workers’ standard of living through inflation as long as these wars go on.

The answer is to fight to stop the war and get the U.S. military and corporate interests out of the Middle East for good. It’s in all workers’ interests to do everything possible to reject racism and imperialist domination.

Sharon Black is a long-time community activist and trade unionist. A former UFCW shop steward in Baltimore, Md., she represented food processing workers. A founding member of the All Peo ples Congress, she has fought against utility rate hikes and police brutality.