Monday, March 20, 2006

Maryam Namazie: Not Another Iraq

On the anniversary of the war on Iraq, we watch on our TV screens with complete disbelief and horror at the abyss that was once a country albeit a dictatorship. Though we always said this would happen, it is still so hard to believe that things can actually always get so much worse than we had allowed ourselves to imagine.

U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says that terrorists in Iraq are attempting to stoke sectarian tension and spark civil war. What else did he really expect when all they have done is divide and compartmentalise the country into ethnic and religious blocks via their own form of state terrorism?

The current situation is a direct result of the USA's war and policies on Iraq. Of course Islamic terrorists are taking advantage of the situation to gain access to power – though some have already been mainstreamed into the Iraqi government, thanks to the USA. They too have turned Iraq into their killing fields.

As every day goes by, it becomes painfully clear for all that neither the Islamist herds, nor the ethnocentric gangs and thugs let loose on society, nor the US-led 'liberators' can bring about a humane and 21st century solution to this swamp that was once called Iraq. They are in fact themselves the problem.

And in all this tragedy and chaos, UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw says he wants to help the Iranian people have a freer and more prosperous future – that the Iranian people deserve better! Isn't that what they said about the people of Iraq and Afghanistan! And we have seen the prosperity they have brought for them!

To Jack Straw and Donald Rumsfeld: Please, if anyone is going to and can bring freedom, equality and prosperity, it is not you but the revolutionary movement fighting for the overthrow of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Your alternative is no alternative at all but more of the same.

Stand back and let us show you how it's done.


See: Maryam Namazie. Maryam Namazie is a producer of TV International English, a member of the Central Council of the Organisation for Women's Liberation and Director of the Worker-communist Party of Iran's International Relations Committee. She is also co-editor of WPI Briefing.

9 comments:

beatroot said...

I agree with all that.

But...the most important question is - why?

Is it classic imperialism - and if it is then the imperialists ain't as good as they used to be - or is it because the ruling elites, trying to give themselves a 'mission', when they can think of nothing to connect themselves to people at home.

and it's all gone wrong. Suprised?

Frank Partisan said...

I don't read that into her statement.

She is on hand being against imperialist intervention, at the same time fighting for socialist revolution from within.

She represents a communist group with members in Iraq and Iran.

beatroot said...

yeah, sorry, I didn't mean that.

The invasion is a disaster and the whole'war of terror' is a disaster. Of cours.

And the question three years on is, why did they do this? I think the usual explanations are not correct. This is a new thing and a part of the post-cold war reality. This is different from the old imperialism.

Clay said...

i completely agree man ... it is tragic what has happened and how nothing has changed ... even Bush is still in office

San Nakji said...

Why wouldn't Bush be in office. America grows more conservative by the day. The anti-Arab / Muslim / foreigner-in-general thing going on over there means that few Americans really care what is going on over there.

Frank Partisan said...

I don't think America is growing more conservative. There is a disatisfaction with the direction of government. The job of the radical is to move the momentum away from democrats.

Frank Partisan said...

I think the initial invasion of Iraq was a combination of actual neocon idealism, combined with Rumsfeld and Cheney cold war thought.

The Iran invasion talk is as false as Iraq. Iran has no capacity for nuclear weapons for atleast ten years. If the US could slow the oil supply, it sends to China, it could be a blow against China's growth and expansion. An invasion will also weaken Iran's ties to Iraqi Shiites. As for Iran being the biggest supporter of terrorists, it is unproven and silly, given the Sunni composition of the so called 'resistance." See Juan Cole's analysis.

Steve Middleton said...

The real problem is that the US doesn't know about Imperialism - the UK took 250 years to work out what being an imperial power is, got bored & gave up!
The US thinks you can intervene in another country, screw everything up by having a quick war, but then doesn't know how to be an occupying power (because they don't want to be). They believe that you can just transplant western capitalist methods into any society/state through a bogus notion of democracy - without any kind of preparation and are surprised when the 'wrong' people get elected (like in Palestine) or the new Parliament spends vast amounts of time arguing & the country descends into civil war.
The US doesn't want the present government in Iran - but it also doesn't want a real revoltion there either (look at their involvement in Latin America - Chile, Panama, El Salvador, Venezuala, etc etc). I think they'd quite like 'The Iranian Coalition of US Oil Producers'!

Mike Ballard said...

According to Commanding General George W. Casey, the
Iraqi people are filling their role as models for
independence in the Middle East. "We helped them get
rid of a dictator, they held successful elections,
they're writing a constitution, and, just like in our
Civil War, brother has taken up arms against brother,"
Casey said. "After five to 10 years of unspeakable
brutality and bloodshed, they'll be well on their way
to a full-fledged democracy."

Rumsfeld, however, sought to reassure the Iraqi people
that despite their rapid improvement, the U.S. would
not abandon them.

"We've accomplished a lot," Rumsfeld said. "But
there's still so much to take from the people of this
rich country, and we're not going to pack up and leave
just because they're doing so well on their own. We
look forward to working very, very closely with Iraq,
once there's a friendly government in place that we
can do business with."

Added Rumsfeld: "We plan to be around for a long, long
time."
***********

Hard to believe sometimes that this is a spoof.

Full:
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/46450/print/