NOW MORE THAN EVER: BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW!

What Has the US Government's War Against Iraq Achieved?

* The US government does not keep track, but independent analysts estimate Iraqi civilian dead could be as high as 100,000.

* 1,500 US G.I.'s have died and nearly 25,000 injured.

* Human rights atrocities including torture at Guantanamo, Abu Graib, and others.

* $300 billion in US taxes have been spent on the war while schools are being closed and social services are being cut here in the US.

Has the US Government Tried to Bring Democracy to Iraq?

In fact, despite what the corporate media tells you, the US government has been doing everything possible to manipulate elections in Iraq to make them anything but democratic so that it could seize control of the Iraqi economy with oil as the prime target:

* "[T]he Bush administration initially resisted the idea of holding elections this soon and only succumbed under pressure from Iraq's most powerful cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani. The original plan, designed by then-US administrator L. Paul Bremer, was a complicated formula of regional caucuses to select a national government, which would write a constitution, and then hold the elections. It was Sistani who demanded one-person, one-vote elections." (Robin Wright of the Washington Post and Juan Cole of the University of Michigan)

* "In Najaf, US authorities organized and then abruptly canceled June 15 elections for local government officials as it became increasingly clear that Sadr's hand-picked candidates would win." (San Francisco Chronicle, 7-16-03)

* [T]he [Bush] administration...moved quickly—in violation of international law—to impose its economic vision. Last month Jay Garner, the first US administrator of Iraq, told the BBC that he was sacked in part because he wanted to hold quick elections. His superiors wanted to privatize Iraqi industries first...." (New York Times, 4-23-04)

* Under Paul Bremer, a plan was introduced that "would make Iraq's economy one of the most open to trade and capital flows in the world, and put it among the lowest taxed in the world...." "It would allow a handful of foreign banks to take over the domestic banking system." "Moreover, the radical laws have been adopted without a democratic Iraqi government to discuss or approve them." (NY Times, 10-2-03)

After all, the US war on Iraq was waged despite the overwhelming world opinion opposed to it and in direct contradiction to democratic values. Today, the majority of the American population believes that the war was a mistake and want the troops to start coming home now. As the "liberation" is revealed to be nothing more than a brutal occupation, the Armed Services has watched its recruitment plummet.

How Can We Strengthen Our Resistance?

We must focus on making our street demonstrations even bigger so that they can reflect the fact that the majority sentiment is on our side. We should organize under the banner, "Bring the Troops Home Now!"—a demand that will unite the greatest number under our most crucial principle. We reject the strategy of crawling before members of Congress, begging for political favors. Almost all of them supported the war because they are on the payroll of the "big money" interests that are behind the war, the oil companies and their cohorts. Street demonstrations helped force the US out of Vietnam. We can do it again in relation to US troops in Iraq.

We should applaud and support the International Longshoremen and Warehouse Union, Local 10 for leading the way today by shutting down the docks to protest the war on Iraq. This, along with the endorsement by many unions of this march, is the first step in what could develop into a powerful, united labor opposition to the war. Labor has the capability of spearheading the US working class, which has paid for this war with its blood and bread, into a movement that is capable of bringing this war to a halt. Can the United Nations Secure Peace in Iraq? The United Nations is part of the problem, not the solution. Because it is controlled by the historic colonizing powers of the world, including Europe and the US, it serves the interests of a few dominating countries that have permanent seats on the Security Council. That is why it was prepared to impose an embargo on Iraq that resulted in the deaths of an estimated 500,000 children. The people of Iraq have seen the real face of the U.N. and they do not want it haunting them again. Today, three-quarters of the Iraqi people want the US troops to leave immediately. The Iraqi people succeeded in expelling the British colonizers in 1958, and with our help they will expel the US troops today.

Workers Action stands for independent working class power and the unity of the international working class for socialist revolution.

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Labor Donated
March 19, 2005