The debate among the politicians in Washington and the Pentagon brass about their next steps in the brutal war against the people of Afghanistan are splashed across the front pages. The occupation of Iraq has been given a back seat in the discussion, despite continuing U.S. violence and popular resistance.
The mainstream media, which exists to serve the interests of the capitalist class, is fashioning the so-called withdrawal as if it were a real diminishing of the occupation.
Recently the New York Times published an article that opened with this sentence: “There is no more visible sign that America is putting the Iraq war behind it than the colossal operation to get its stuff out: 20,000 soldiers, nearly a sixth of the force here, assigned to a logistical effort aimed at dismantling some 300 bases and shipping out 1.5 million pieces of equipment, from tanks to coffee makers.”
Only a mouthpiece of U.S. imperialism could call the removal of only a sixth of an occupation force, leaving tens of thousands of soldiers and between 130,000 and 180,000 U.S.-paid private contractors and numerous bases in another country putting the war “behind it.”
The fact that dozens of bases will remain in Iraq long after the United States puts the Iraq war “behind it” clearly demonstrates that the U.S. ruling class has no intention of truly relinquishing Iraq. These bases—six of which are so-called “supersize bases”—will continue to be filled with the boots and rifles of U.S. occupational forces.
The same NY Times article notes that at least 50,000 troops will be left in Iraq through at least 2011. Soldiers, airmen and marines will continue to kill innocent Iraqis, while simultaneously building the military might of a puppet Iraqi army. The purpose of that reduction in Iraq, according to the senior commander in Iraq, General Ray Odierno, is to free up U.S. soldiers to go to Afghanistan.
Much of the equipment that is removed from Iraq is simply being sent to Afghanistan to help expand the war and occupation there. Whether the equipment is all transferred to Afghanistan or not, every vehicle or piece of equipment taken from a base in Iraq will soon be used for war or occupation in the interests of U.S. imperialism. The same “withdrawal” policy applies to the nearly one-quarter of a million foreign-occupation force that exists in Iraq right now. Every set of boots that is removed from Iraq will eventually end up in Afghanistan or some other country to continue the U.S. colonial project in the Middle East and Central Asia.
More sleight of hand by U.S. imperialism
U.S. policymakers have continued to throw out tentative time lines and dates for what they would want us to believe will signal the end of the occupation. These dates always come with strings attached and are always subject to change based on guidance from generals “on-the-ground.”
We have seen, for instance, that the ruling-class proclamation that “as of June 30 all U.S. troops are out of Iraqi cities,” was totally false. In some cases, city borders were redrawn in order to leave the U.S. bases and outposts outside of city boundaries. None of the deadlines or timelines actually means the end of the Iraqi occupation.
The U.S.-led war on the people of Iraq did not begin in 2003 when bombs struck Baghdad. At that point the war was already well into its 12th year. The United States invaded Iraq in 1991. Following that invasion, more than a million Iraqis died while living under a different type of war—a war of genocidal sanctions. These sanctions were pushed for and enforced by the United States with the intention of toppling the Iraqi government and creating the ability to colonize Iraq without a ground invasion. The ruling class never got the results it was looking for and was forced to change its tactics—opting for an air and land invasion in 2003.
This so-called withdrawal is a continuation of using different tactics to achieve the same goal: imperialist domination and exploitation. The U.S. ruling class is invested in maintaining the occupation and due to multiple factors—most notably the heroic resistance by the Iraqi people against its occupiers—has now chosen to change its policies and the appearance of the occupation in Iraq.
For the millions of families in Iraq and Afghanistan that have seen loved ones die while living under occupation, the nature of the experience doesn’t change by simply lowering troop levels from 125,000 to 50,000. Foreign soldiers armed and under the direction of foreign governments in Iraq mean that Iraq is still occupied.
‘All troops out now!’
The vast majority of people in the United States are against not only the war in Iraq, but the war in Afghanistan as well. The demand of the anti-war movement must continue to be “all troops out now!”
While the officer class sits in catered office rooms with Washington politicians and mulls over what equipment to leave to the newly formed Iraqi military, discusses the newest phase of its colonial project in Iraq and debates how best to repress the Afghani popular resistance, U.S. soldiers and Iraqis die every day.
The only strategy that is in the interests of the people of Iraq, Afghanistan and the working-class men and women who make up the majority of U.S. soldiers is an immediate withdrawal of all occupying forces from the Middle East, Central Asia and around the world.
March Forward! calls for all soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines to refuse the illegal orders that are being passed down from Washington and given to you by your officers.
Colonial wars are not in our interest and therefore not our wars!
The people of Iraq and Afghanistan are not our enemies!
