From MIM Notes #178 January 15, 1999
DROP SANCTIONS, NOT BOMBS
AMERIKA LAUNCHES AIR STRIKES AGAINST IRAQ
ORGANIZE FOR ANTI-IMPERIALIST REVOLUTION

The governments of Amerika and England launched four 
nights of air strikes against the Iraqi people 
starting December 16. The recent air strikes continue 
the decade long war against the Iraqi people. The 
bombings will bring about increased death and 
destruction in the name of expanding U.$. imperialist 
power.

To defend the continued genocide and recent military 
campaign, the imperialists pointed to the UN weapons 
inspectorâs report on the status of UNSCOMâs 
operations. The report stated that Iraq did not 
cooperate with Amerika. The imperialist report -- 
written with the advice of the $tate Department -- 
stated that Iraq "compromised" UN inspections of 
alleged weapons of mass destruction.

The inspection process and its underlying premise of 
Amerikan authority are bogus. The deployment of 
weapons of mass destruction has overwhelmingly been at 
the hands of Amerikan imperialism. The imperialists 
attacked civilians under the guise of destroying 
Iraqâs hypothetical future use of weapons of mass 
destruction.

Because Amerikan imperialism relies on being the most 
powerful economic and military force in the world, the 
u.$. is willing to use its weapons of mass destruction 
any time a country does not bow to its will. And in 
this case as others, the imperialists create a show to 
justify genocidal military attacks. Beyond the number 
of direct deaths (estimated at 75 civilian), the 
bombings increase the deaths from preventable health 
problems.

World War III continuesImperialist military strikes 
are only the shooting aspect of World War III waged 
against the Third World. Since 1990, the U.$., with 
the blessing of its puppet U.N., has enforced an 
economic blockade against Iraq. MIM recognizes these 
economic sanctions as an act of war.

It is no surprise that the Iraqi people oppose the U$. 
So far more than 800,000 civilian Iraqi people have 
died from starvation and lack of medicine and adequate 
water treatment facilities. (This total is in addition 
to the number of civilians killed during the Gulf War 
bombings.) More than half of the dead have been 
children born after the Gulf War.(2) Every ten minutes 
an Iraqi child dies from malnutrition, preventable 
disease or other effects of the sanctions. When 
sanctions result in massive deaths and destruction, it 
is impossible to rationally reject the analysis that 
this is genocide.U.$. imperialism benefits from 
continued economic sanctions. The sanctions keep Iraq 
from upsetting investments in other parts of the 
region and keep Iraqâs commerce out of commission. 
With the current low oil sales due to the economic 
crisis in Asia, more Iraqi oil on the market would be 
unwelcome competition for Amerikan companies and 
client states.

The military attacks strengthen the imperialist hand 
against Iraq. The ruse surrounding weapons inspections 
helps to ensure prolonged implementation of the 
sanctions. The military campaign and economic 
sanctions as well as the tripling of imperialist 
ground troops in the region aid the long term 
imperialist goal of installing a puppet dictator that 
will kowtow to Amerikan demands. Until a U.$.-puppet 
is installed, the U.$. will continue its attempts to 
control Iraqi participation in the oil market through 
its current methods.

Amerikan hypocrisy & hegemony

Because Iraq has given up Kuwait, the blockade is 
illegal by UN resolutions. (Not that blockades were 
ever legal.) Now, the United Snakes of Imperialism 
uses Resolution 687 to justify the bombings and 
continued sanctions. U.N. Resolution 687 calls for 
Iraq to destroy its alleged weapons of mass 
destruction and to commit to inspections.

Even taking for granted the U.$. claim that it was 
right to bomb Iraq if it violated the inspections, it 
is instructive to look at the Butler report. UNSCOM 
chief Richard Butler complains that Iraqi compliance 
with resolution 687 is "unacceptable." Since November 
17, 1998, there have been 427 inspections of Iraqi 
sites. According to Butler's report, there have been 
only 5 "disruptions.":

1) a 45 minute delay, 2) an Iraqi rebuff to UNSCOM 
attempts to interview undergraduate science students 
in Baghdad, 3) restricting access to the small office 
of a Ba'ath party leader, 4&5) delays in getting 
access to buildings on the Muslim sabbath.

By many accounts, Iraq has destroyed its weapons of 
mass destruction. It is not in the interests of U.$. 
imperialism to admit that Iraq has met the terms of 
Resolution 687. To do so would mean that the u.$. 
would have to lift economic sanctions against the 
Iraqi people, stop its strategy of genocide and lose 
the prospects of controlling Iraq to protect U.$. 
imperialism.

Whether or not the accounts are accurate, MIM opposes 
the bombing of Iraq or other forms of coercion to 
control its military capacity. MIM opposes imperialism 
entire, including the imperialist power to act as 
world kop.

Just as white pigs occupy the territory of oppressed 
nations within the u.$., the imperialists act as world 
pigs ö in both cases, the pigs implement rules which 
benefit the economic, military and political interests 
of imperialist Amerika. MIM opposes the imperialist 
power to dictate the political, economic and military 
systems of other nations. We support genuine self-
determination of oppressed nations and see this is the 
only way oppressed nations can negotiate with others 
on more equal terms and internally develop the best 
means to meet the needs of the people ö proletarian 
dictatorship.The United Snakes would never allow 
another country, especially an enemy, to inspect its 
weapons systems. The Senate Foreign Relations 
Committee attached provisions to the implementation of 
the Chemical Weapons Convention that are like Saddam 
Hussein's protests to UNSCOM inspections. One 
provision says:  "The President may deny a request to 
inspect any facility in the United States in cases 
where the President determines that the inspection may 
pose a threat to national security interests." It 
further states that "any objection by the President to 
any individual serving as an inspector shall not be 
reviewable in any court."(11)

Amerikan citizens are even denied the right to 
document illegal Amerikan weapons. Six members of the 
Citizens Inspection Team, a pacifist group, were 
arrested for trespassing during attempts to inspect 
Davis Monthan Air Force Base for the presence of 
depleted uranium ammunition. This armor piercing 
ammunition is dangerous because of its radioactivity. 
Since its effects last for a long time and can cause 
high rates of death, it is illegal under international 
law.(8) These are simply a few examples that the 
United Snakes of Imperialism expects and enforces 
maximum protection of its military activities while 
simultaneously invading (what are supposed to be) 
sovereign nations· to inspect and destroy weapons· and 
to murder civilians.

Who uses biological, chemical and nuclear weapons?

When Iraq used poison gas against the Kurds and Iran 
in the 1980s, it was defended by the United States and 
UN. Gassing the Kurds in their fight for independence 
wasn't original to Iraq, it was first done by Great 
Britain in the 1920s.(4)

The United Snakes is the only country to have actually 
used nuclear weapons, and did so against civilians. 
Additionally, the key ingredient in pepper spray -- 
used daily by police and prison guards -- is banned by 
the United Nations Biological Weapons Convention in 
1972.(4)

Current warnings of the threat of biological weapons 
from Iraq continue to tell only the imperialist side 
of the story. In the Persian Gulf War, Amerika used 
such weapons as napalm and fuel-air explosives against 
both military and civilian targets, in violation of 
the Geneva Convention.

A fuel-air explosive releases a "shockwave" whose 
"concussive force would surely rupture internal organs 
or eardrums of Iraqi soldiers pinned down in their 
bunkers. This is not even to mention incineration and 
asphyxiation, as the fire storm of the bomb sucks all 
of the oxygen out of the area."(5)

According to the CIA, Iraq did not use or deploy 
chemical and biological weapons in Kuwait.(7)

Even after the war was over, Amerikan armed forces 
used both biological and chemical weapons on the 
"Highway of Death," a road from Kuwait to Iraq along 
which retreating Iraqi troops and Palestinian, 
Jordanian, and other war refugees traveled at the end 
of the 1991 war.(6) Again, these are only a sampling 
of imperialismâs attacks against the masses of the 
world. This is why MIM organizes against U.$. bombings 
and sanctions within the context of building 
revolution against imperialist control entirely.

Masses protest bombings

The bombing may have stopped after four nights, but 
evidence points to a renewed military campaign. One 
key factor is that Amerika has been increasingly 
quicker to jump into military enforcement of 
imperialism in the past year. Amerika uses military 
force at times during the current World War III to try 
and scare the masses back into obedience. But from the 
long-term perspective, it has the opposite effect of 
exposing Amerika for the genocidal murderer it is. 
After the bombing began, demonstrations were 
immediately organized around the world.

The Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League (RAIL) 
organized rallies, video showings and teach-ins.

In the West Bank, thousands of Palestinians 
demonstrated against the attack, and one was shot and 
killed by Israel police.(9) Palestinians chanted 
"Death to America" and "Death to Clinton".

Indonesian protesters were photographed with signs 
such as "Clinton=Hitler" and "Clinton is mass murderer 
of the year."

The Iraqi people know that Clinton's claim to oppose 
not the common people but only Saddam Hussein to be 
false. The December attacks merely teach the new 
generation why they should oppose imperialism.

One Iraqi told a reporter: "Last night my daughter 
asked me, 'What is it?" when the bombs started," ... 
describing how his three children cowered in fear and 
cried next to him n bed as the missiles rained down.

"I told her it was America. She asked me 'Why does 
America do this to us?' And I told her it is because 
they have hatred for the Iraqi people.... There is no 
factory, no presidential palace, no weapons site here. 
There are only people. So why do you bomb us?"(10)

Notes:
1. NPR - "All Things Considered" December 16, 1998
2. http://www.web.net/~gccwat/iraq/
3. The Independent 14 October 1998.
4. "The pot calling the kettle black: A history of 
bio-chemical weapons," http://www.Al- 
Bushra.org/temp/grossman.htm.
5. Ramsey Clark and others, War Crimes: A Report on 
United States War Crimes Against Iraq. Maissoneuve 
Press (Washington, D.C.: 1992), p. 86. 6. Ibid, p. 18.
7. CIA report on Intelligence Related to Gulf War 
Illnesses. 
http:///www.gulflink.osd.mil/cia_report/102496_war.htm
l
8. Iraq Notes, Houston Coalition to End the War 
Against Iraq, 281-546-7173 9. Agence France Press Dec 
17
10. Boston Globe Dec 18 1998 p. A19.
11. The Progressive March 1998 p. 8.