In fall 1968, Richard Nixon narrowly won the presidency, claiming he had a “peace plan” to end the increasingly unpopular war in Vietnam. Nixon refused to divulge any of the details. He said doing so would “tip his hand.” Nixon’s unmistakable message was that U.S. troop numbers would be reduced.
At the time, there were more than half a million U.S. soldiers in Vietnam. The weekly death toll was roughly equal to the
 |
On Aug. 15, Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, announced to the media that he would put forward a “troop reduction” plan in September, implying that the current increasingly unpopular war would begin winding down. By next summer, the general said, the U.S. presence in Iraq would be “a good bit smaller” than it is today.
There are some striking parallels between the two plans, most importantly in their deliberate deception. Neither had or has anything to do with ending a war.
Nixon’s real aim was to step up the bombing, including the contemplated use of nuclear weapons, to vastly expand assassination and torture under the CIA’s Phoenix Program, and “Vietnamization.”
Vietnamization meant spending billions to arm and train a puppet South Vietnamese army to do the fighting, killing and dying in place of U.S. troops. At the same time, the U.S. bases, advisors and substantial—although reduced—numbers of combat troops would continue the occupation of Vietnam.
Nixon’s aim was not peace but victory for the imperialists, regardless of the price.
While the U.S. death toll was gradually reduced from 1969-72, on the Vietnamese side it was greatly increased.
Nixon’s horrific war plan failed. The Vietnamese succeeded in liberating their country from foreign domination in 1975. The cost was millions of lives and massive destruction.
The Bush regime and the Pentagon—as well as the Democratic leaders in Congress—are as dedicated to victory as Nixon was nearly four decades ago. The stakes in Iraq are even higher for the imperialist system than they were in Vietnam. This is due to the immense strategic and economic importance of the Persian/Arabian Gulf region.
It is clear that Petraeus’s talk about troop reduction is nothing but talk. In the Aug. 15 press briefing where he floated “troop reduction,” Petraeus spoke against a “quick or significant U.S. withdrawal,” warning that it could lose “the gains we have fought so hard to achieve.”
The ruling capitalist class would like to reduce U.S. casualties and popular opposition to the war, but not at the cost of defeat. Petraeus’s vague allusion to troop withdrawals in the distant future is intended to rally key support for a continuation of the war now.
The construction of at least 14 giant military bases in Iraq and the largest embassy in the world in Baghdad are sure signs that the U.S. imperialists have no intention of getting out of Iraq anytime soon, if the choice is left to them.
No one should be fooled or lulled into passivity by the lies and deceit coming out of the mouths of generals and politicians. Only the struggle and resistance of the people—in Iraq, across the Middle East and the world, and here inside the United States—will end the war.
That is what makes Sept. 15 such an important date.
On that day, Gen. Petraeus is scheduled to report officially to Congress on the war’s status. Congress also will begin debating the funding of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars for the next year to the tune of $145 billion dollars.
Not a penny more should go to this criminal war waged for imperialist profit and domination.
Sept. 15 will see a mass outpouring in the streets of Washington, D.C., to demand, “End the war now!”
Iraq and Vietnam veterans and family members of soldiers will lead a mass march from the White House to Congress. The action was initiated by the ANSWER Coalition-Act Now to Stop War and End Racism and others and has been endorsed by thousands of organizations and individuals.
Thousands will join a “Die-In” during the Sept. 15 march. In the days after, additional anti-war actions will take place in Washington, D.C.
Now is the time for an escalation of mass action to stop the war. Be in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 15.
