In the strongest terms, I condemn US imperialism for
getting all set to unleash a war of aggression against
Iraq and the Iraqi people. In this regard, I add my
voice once more to all those calling on the people to
rise up in order to oppose the unjust war of
imperialism.
The broad masses of the people all over the world,
including those in the US and imperialist countries
allied with the US, have demonstrated their opposition
to the impending war through gigantic protest actions.
These are comparable in magnitude to those in the
popular resistance against the US war of aggression
against Vietnam in years 1965 to 1975.
US imperialism is now isolated by the broad masses of
the people who are outraged by its arrogance, greed
and bellicosity. It is likewise isolated in the
international community of states as well as in the
UN Security Council. It is seen as an arrogant and
unreasonable power hell-bent on launching an illegal
and immoral war in utter violation of the UN Charter
and in particular Resolution 1441, which stipulates
an inspection regime and requires a "second
resolution" for going to war.
The US is not at all interested in allowing the UN
inspection teams to do their work of finding out
whether Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. The real
purpose of the US is to launch a war of aggression in
order to recolonize Iraq, install puppets and grab
Iraqi oil resources. The US expects thereby to further
control the Middle East and the adjoining regions,
weaken and dominate the Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC) and enhance US control of
the oil supply as lever for subordinating all
economies to the US economy.
The US is undertaking a war of aggression against Iraq
not only to grab oil resources but also to justify
drastic increases in US military spending and step up
war production. The current ruling clique in the US,
headed by Bush, believes that wars and rising war
production can solve the grave economic and financial
crisis of the US and world capitalist system.
At the moment, 250,000 US troops, 1000 US planes and a
huge fleet of US aircraft carriers and naval vehicles
(excluding the forces contributed by Britain,
Australia and the like) are set to go on a
killing and wrecking rampage. The US plan is to
conquer Iraq in the most cowardly and dastardly
manner, using high-tech weapons to destroy the
economic infrastructure and to massacre hundreds of
thousands of people.
The US plans to destroy the capacity and will of Iraq
to resist through intensive bombing by airplanes and
cruise missiles. These are to be followed by US ground
forces moving into Iraqi territory and developing
bases. Further on, they are to deploy puppet forces
and install puppets as local administrators. Obvious
from his speech giving to Saddam and his sons the
ultimatum to leave Iraq within 48 hours, Bush
insinuates that he has assets for causing breakaways
from Saddam and even a coup against him.
In view of such a US strategy, we can expect the Iraqi
state and people to avoid exposing to enemy attacks
concentrations of their regular armed forces and to
keep them in readiness for fighting at close quarters,
in concert with partisan forces. While the US is
still engaged in bombings, they can also be expected
to work actively to prevent puppet forces and
breakaways from gathering any strength and from
augmenting prospective US ground occupation forces.
The Iraqi state and people are conscious that the
longer they can keep up their resistance the more the
US imperialism would be seen as an aggressor failing
in its objectives. Either the US will be exposed
as a failure in its blitzkrieg plan or it will have to
go indefinitely into excessive and senseless bombings
that would inflame more and more the indignation of
the people of world.
When it tried to take Kuwait more than a decade ago,
Iraq was the overreaching force, overextending itself
to a hostile population. This time it is the US trying
to take ground, where there are oil and Iraqi
population, in a social and natural environment
hostile to the US invading troops. Somehow to some
extent and for an indefinite period of time, the US
has to expose its troops to the danger of fire
from Iraqis if it wants to grab the oil and establish
bases for the purpose.
The US expects that its barbaric bombings will shock
and awe the Iraqi state and people into submission. On
the contrary, the Iraqi state and people can
deliberately preserve their regular and irregular
fighting forces, avoid making them visible targets of
the enemy and keep them ready for fighting at close
quarters when the US and puppet troops begin to occupy
Iraqi territory and control population centers and oil
fields.
As soon as it begins its war of aggression and
proceeds with massive bombings of Iraqi targets, the
US will outrage the people of the world everyday and
will incite them to engage in ever larger protest
actions and further isolate the aggressors. The US
bombing campaign will become more futile and more
detestable everyday that it fails to destroy Iraqi
regular and irregular forces that are properly
deployed and that evade destruction in a war of quick
decision that the US blitzkrieg seeks to achieve.
Afflicted by the hubris of a hyperpower, the US
underestimates what the broad masses of the people and
the democratic forces of the world can do to
resolutely and militantly resist imperialist wars of
aggression. The current worsening conditions of
crisis, repression and war are fertile ground for what
is now a growing trend for the forces of national
liberation, democracy and socialism to surge
forward.
---------------
Prof. Sison is the General Consultant, International League of People's
Struggle.
