The Bremer laws preserved the Hussein-era anti-trade union regulations, lowered tax rates to levels dreamed of by multinationals, opened Iraq's economy to 100 percent foreign ownership in all areas except oil, which will remain effectively under Western control. The mainstream economist Jeff Madrick was quite right when he argued in the business pages of The New York Times (October 2, 2003) that the privatization plans for Iraq are "stunning" and will lead to "widespread cruelty."
The economic take-over of Iraq shows what's really at stake in Iraq: the use of military power to spread neoliberalism, not democracy.
KZ: You point to five ingredients that led to the end of the Vietnam War: 1. Mass resistance of the Vietnamese people. 2. Resistance of US soldiers and veterans. 3. Domestic opposition to the war at home. 4. International opposition to the war around the world. 5. The growing economic consequences of the war undermining the US economy Do you see those same ingredients being required and/or sufficient to ending the Iraq occupation? How do they apply to the current war? AA: None of these elements alone ended the Vietnam War or are sufficient today to end this one, but all of these dynamics already have effected the course of this war and could lead to U.S. withdrawal.
To take them in turn, it is clear that a majority of Iraqis oppose the occupation and want to see U.S. troops leave. Attacks on U.S. troops are increasing rather than decreasing, and the resistance in Iraq, far from being only Sunni or foreign-led is widespread and popular. Clear majorities of Shias, as well as Sunnis, want an end to foreign occupation.
Today, we see U.S. soldiers speaking out against this war and organizing against it far earlier than we did during the Vietnam War. Conscientious objectors and war resisters such as Camilo Mejia, Pablo Paredes, and Ehren Watada, veterans groups such as IVAW, military families organizing against the war, and counter-recruitment groups have begun to have a real impact. The military is falling short of its recruitment goals. A Zogby poll last year showed that 72 percent of U.S. active duty troops in Iraq wanted to lave Iraq by the end of 2006 year, and 29 percent wanted to leave immediately, which is remarkable. Instead, we see 21,500 more troops being sent and people's tours of duty being extended to their third, fourth, or even fifth deployment. In effect, reservists are being subjected to a backdoor draft. (For more on the Vietnam era soldiers' revolt, there are two invaluable resources, the new documentary "Sir! No Sir!" -- http://www.sirnosir.com/ -- and the recently updated edition of David Cortright's Soldiers in Revolt -- click here
Meanwhile, at home, public opinion has turned solidly against the war, again at an earlier stage than happened during the Vietnam War. The U.S. every day is growing more isolated in its continued occupation, with a number of countries voting out prowar governments and the partners of the so-called Coalition of the Willing dwindling. The costs of the war have mounted to the point that some economic elites and also military planners are speaking out about the harm the occupation is causing to perceived U.S. economic and military interests. This opens cracks that the antiwar movement needs to use to raise issues that the corporate establishment media otherwise would ignore.
Much more needs to be done, however, to raise the costs of this war. Much more is at stake for the United States in Iraq today than was at stake in Vietnam. Iraq is far more strategic a prize. Iraq has the world's second largest oil reserves and in a region with the majority of oil and natural gas reserves, as well as access to crucial trade routes. Iraqi crude is also of very high quality, is easy to extract, and is exceptionally profitable -- at a time when each barrel of oil is getting more costly and difficult to extract from the earth than the ones before.
If the United States were defeated in Iraq, it would be a major reversal, and would affect Washington's ability to intervene economically, politically, and militarily in the affairs of other countries around the world. So we will have to do much more than we have done to mobilize opposition at home, to encourage and support soldiers who are speaking out, to disrupt recruitment for the military, to confront the warmongers and the media that have protected them from full scrutiny, to pressure the Congress to cut off funding for the war, and to make connections between the war with other social struggles in this country, of working and poor people, of immigrants, of people concerned about civil liberties, and other people fighting attacks on their communities. So much is at stake, not just for the people of Iraq, but for people in this country -- and throughout the world.
KZ: Your book title plays off the title of a book your colleague, Howard Zinn wrote -- Vietnam: The Logic of Withdrawal -- why? And, why did you write the book?
AA: Before leaving South End Press in 2002, I had the chance to republish some of Howard Zinn's classic books, such as SNCC: The New Abolitionists -- http://www.southendpress.org/2004/items/SNCC -- and Vietnam: The Logic of Withdrawal -- http://www.southendpress.org/2004/items/Vietnam. I reread Vietnam: The Logic of Withdrawal at that time, as I was working on an updated edition of my book Iraq Under Siege: The Deadly Impact of Sanctions and War -- http://www.southendpress.org/2004/items/Iraq --, with another major assault on Iraq imminent. And as the invasion and occupation unfolded, I was repeatedly reminded by the power of Howard's argument in that book, in which he argued for the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of U.S. troops from Vietnam. Howard's book, written in 1967, was remarkably prescient. The war, however, continued for years after, and to this day continues to kill and maim people through its toxic legacy. Rather than retreat, the U.S. expanded the war into Laos and Cambodia, with disastrous consequences (using similar arguments to the one we hear more frequently now about Iraq and Syria supporting the insurgency in Iraq). Literally millions of people needlessly lost their lives. This history is vital to understanding Iraq today and to exposing what the historian Sidney Lens called the "myth of American benevolence" (in his remarkable book The Forging of the American Empire: click here
I wrote my book in the hope that it might help give people a sense of historical perspective on the invasion of Iraq and that it might be a resource for the antiwar movement. I also hope it can help encourage more people and organizations in the antiwar to push for immediate withdrawal, rather than other proposals that accept some variant of continued occupation and war.
KZ: What do you say to those Democrats who say we cannot cut off funds for the war?
AA: You cannot oppose the war, as some Democrats have proclaimed, and yet fund this war. That's a complete contradiction. To those who say we cannot withdraw "precipitously," there is nothing precipitous about pulling out after four years of occupying another country against its will and in a situation where the occupying forces are at the root of the instability and violence and is fueling a civil war. To those Democrats who say cutting off funds would mean "abandoning" the troops, the best way to support the troops is to bring them home now.
Kevin Zeese is Executive Director of the Campaign for Fresh Air and Clean Politics (www.FreshAirCleanPolitics.net) whose projects include Voters for Peace (www.VotersForPeace.US., True Vote (www.TrueVote.US and www.TrueVoteMD.org) and Climate Security (www.GlobalClimateSecurity.org). He is also president of Common Sense for Drug Policy (www.csdp.org).
The Democrats will oppose the war with meaningless resolutions. You will be amazed at how happy this will make the typical anti war citizen. but as far as ending the funding? No one in congress truly wants to end the war. Especially congress people with military in their district. Either bases or industry. This war is a cash cow split wide open at the gut and spreading the Blood money not just to the elites, but far and wide.
by
"Hoss" David P. (51 articles, 5 quicklinks, 14 diaries, 338 comments)
on Monday, February 12, 2007 at 2:59:39 PM
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