Iraq: end this bloody occupation

IRAQ: end this bloody occupation

GEORGE BUSH congratulated Iraqi voters for "setting their
country on the path of democracy and freedom." 38 years earlier his
presidential predecessor, Lyndon Johnson, proclaimed elections in South
Vietnam as "encouraging the growth of constitutional
processes."

By the conclusion of the Vietnam war up to two million Vietnamese
were dead and 58,000 US troops had been killed in action.

Last month’s Iraq elections, held under the conditions of a US-led
military occupation, with most Sunni Arabs either abstaining or
intimidated from voting, is redefining the term "democracy".

Far from uniting Iraqis, the election of a general assembly to draw
up a new constitution has set in train the prospect of a bloody
sectarian civil war. Already the ethnic and religious faultlines are
widening as the leaders of the different electoral blocs manoeuvre for
power.

The main Iraqi Shia Muslim list – the United Iraqi Alliance, backed
by the pro-Iranian cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani – has demanded the
post of prime minister and the introduction of Islamic law. Such laws
will conflict with the largely secular Kurdistan Alliance. This Kurdish
coalition could also fracture as its two main parties – the KDP and PUK
– have previously fought each other for power in their northern enclave.

Moreover, the prospect of an independent Kurdish controlled northern
Iraq (which incorporates vast oil fields) has incurred the wrath of
Turkey’s rulers, who have long waged a ruthless campaign against Kurdish
self-rule.

Volatile mix

On top of this volatile mix is the resentment of the five million
Sunni Arabs, from whom were drawn the Baathist regime of Saddam Hussein
but who now find themselves excluded from power. Many have already
turned to waging a guerrilla war. The new balance of political forces
following the Iraq election will do nothing to halt this growing
insurgency.

US imperialism and its UK junior coalition partner wanted a pliant
stooge regime to secure Iraq’s oil reserves and to reassert political
control in the Middle East. Instead, their candidate, Iyad Allawi, was
humiliatingly defeated in the flawed elections, beaten by Islamic
parties who are opposed to the occupation.

After nearly two years under occupation most Iraqis are worse off
than under the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein. Bombings, assassinations
and kidnappings have become the norm. Electricity and water supplies are
only available intermittently. Schools, hospitals and the country’s
infrastructure remain in disrepair. Unemployment and poverty is
widespread.

Nearly $9 billion of revenue from Iraq’s oil exports has
‘disappeared’ – into the pockets of corrupt officials. Billions in
reconstruction aid has gone to swell the profits of US multinationals
like Bechtel and Haliburton.

The occupation, as the socialist warned two years ago, is an
unmitigated disaster. Demonstrate in London on 19 March, and show
solidarity with those ordinary Iraqis by demanding the withdrawal of
British and coalition troops.