People's Democracy
(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) No. 08
February 25, 2001
(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) |
Vol. XXV No. 08 February 25, 2001 |
What Prompted Brutal US Aggression Against Iraq
ON the evening of Friday, February 16, more than 50 US and British jet fighters launched a big aggression on Baghdad, the capital of Iraq. They attacked civilian installations and not the military targets as the US and UK governments claimed. These attacks killed two persons, injured 20 citizens including five children and six women, and destroyed many houses. This act dangerously escalated the daily US-UK aggression on the southern and northern parts of Iraq that started after the failure of the 1998 aggression called Desert Fox. This escalation is likely to push the whole of West Asia to explosive confrontations that will adversely affect world peace and security.
The Bush administration claimed that the aggression was prompted by Iraq’s attempt to strengthen its air defence. The claim is strange as, like any other independent and sovereign country, Iraq has every right to strengthen its defence, especially as there is a direct and continuous threat to it from hostile circles. US president George W Bush displayed a kind of blatant racist arrogance when he described the aggression by more than 50 jet fighters as a "routine" procedure!
What the US president said on the day reflects the reality of what is going on today. Since 1991, some 300 citizens have been killed in Iraq everyday, military attacks are being launched against Iraq and its people are being deprived of medicines and food. Further, there is intervention in its internal affairs. All these happenings have become "routine." The new US president’s lack of wisdom has thus made him pronounce the truth of what is going on in Iraq. Like his predecessors including his father, he too believes that it is his legitimate right to intervene in the internal affairs of others, kill thousands of men, rob their wealth and then describe all this as "routine procedure."
What is significant about this aggression is that it took place a few days before the proposed UN-Iraq dialogue to reach a formula of cooperation between them. This clearly means that the US wanted to sabotage the dialogue and the attempts to solve the region’s problems. The act also came just before the Arab summit that will be held in Jordan in this very month. The summit’s agenda includes a proposal to solve the lingering problems between Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait so as to help eliminate the source of tension in the Gulf region. However, the US wants to keep the tension alive; this would guarantee the continued exploitation of the oil wealth of the states of the region and the sale of junk US arms to them.
The Bush administration is also trying to stop the global tendency towards an end to the embargo imposed on Iraq --- a tendency that is gaining strength day by day. An example of this tendency is the arrival of hundreds of planes in Iraq as part of a solidarity campaign. The February 16 aggression was thus designed to obstruct the world community’s endeavour to rebuild relations with Iraq in the interest of the third world countries, and for world peace, security and prosperity.
The aggression must be strongly condemned and its real objectives exposed by all the free people of the world. Iraq has urged all the people who believe in the principles of a just world, in the sovereignty of all nations free from any foreign intervention and in the need of a world in which no single state plays the role of a world policeman, to condemn this aggression, hold demonstrations against it and urge their governments to strongly react towards it. It has warned that any weak reaction to what is going on in Iraq will only encourage the aggressor to launch more aggressions on Iraq and on other nations too.
