MIM Notes 182 March 15 1999

RAIL ARGUES WITH PACIFISTS ON IRAQ

This letter was sent from RAIL to a local pacifist organization 
which is not named here. The arguments are pretty general, so MIM 
prints it here to inform others having similar debates. --ed.

Dear [pacifist organization],

From last week's Iraq vigil, I went home with a flyer bearing 
[your] name. I didn't read it at the time and don't remember from 
whom I got it. I was surprised to see [your] name and this text:

"This [sanctions] is not foreign policy.

"Sanctions do nothing to hurt Sadaam Hussein. The Iraqi people 
suffer because of both the US/UN policy and because of Sadaam."

Is this flyer really from [you]? If you need it, I can make a copy 
of the whole thing for you.

First, sanctions most definitely are U.$. foreign policy. Killing 
people to make a buck has been the Amerikan way for hundreds of 
years. We can disagree as to whether that aspect can be removed 
without destroying the whole Amerikan system, but I know from 
observing [your organization's] work over the years that we agree 
that genocide is a common occurrence. 

Secondly, demonizing Saddam Hussein serves U.$. interests and not 
those of the Iraqi people. The United Snakes is at war with the 
people of Iraq and its leadership. In order to personalize that 
conflict, Hussein is the only leader in the world commonly 
referred to by politicians and the more jingoist newspapers by his 
first name. The reactionary propagandists theorize that this will 
make building support for war easier. Why does [your organization] 
join in this trend?

The question of Saddam Hussein's leadership in Iraq is a 
complicated one. There is a very real reason the millions of 
people in the Middle East support Hussein, at least compared to 
the support they show towards their own lackey governments. Sure, 
I'd like to see the exploited workers and peasants of Iraq control 
the country, but no more so than I'd like to see that in any other 
country including this one.

Singling out Hussein for special criticism is inappropriate and 
helps to build public support for more U.$. interference in the 
internal affairs of Iraq. The U.$./U.N. makes many charges against 
Iraq and Saddam Hussein. Some of them are true, but every single 
one of them are things that are done in far greater fashion by the 
United States. I know that [your organization] knows the facts 
about who really uses chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, 
for example.

We agree that sanctions are a weapon that only effects the people 
on the bottom of the targeted society. But would [you] would 
support CIA assassinations of Hussein, or the bombing of purely 
military facilities, or any of a myriad of other interventions in 
Iraq? From your past practice I know this not to be the case, but 
your flyer ends up supporting these very common -- and very 
dangerous ideas.

In struggle,

RAIL