The illegal pretext used to wage war against Iraq was that they possessed ‘weapons of mass destruction’ that were a threat to the world, although it was a lie that these weapons even existed in the first place. The Bush regime’s say their long-term illegal occupation of Iraq is necessary to democratise the country, but the US has a long history of supporting dictatorships, which it is doing in neighbouring Saudi Arabia. and fight what they call terrorists, who did not exist before the invasion.
The propaganda has now turned to portraying the Bush as a kind benefactor intent on re-constructing the country for the long-suffering Iraqi people, and leading its brave army in a noble war against terrorism. The anti-war movement must shatter these lies as part of the process of liberating Iraq from US domination, should support a mass actions against the presence of the US military machine in Britain, make Bush’s visit a propaganda disaster, and to finally force the US to unconditionally withdraw from there needs to be active support for a victory in the war against the illegal US occupying forces.
Firstly, the reality of the war needs to be further explained. The invasion was planned for economic gain: to steal oil money and hand it to US corporations to reconstruct a country that the US killing machine destroyed with their own massive arsenal mass destruction weapons; and to steal (privatise) Iraq’s assets that were not bombed by giving them away to US financial institutions at a ridiculously low price. Now, other wealthy capitalist countries are being promised a slice of the action if they donate aid (bribes), because the Bush regime cannot persuade US tax-payers to pay additional investment necessary for corporations to get completely risk free highly profitable business. This process is presented as a humanitarian expedient, but in reality it is priming US imperialist robbery.
Because the lies are being continually exposed the hope that this war, and subsequent invasions of Iran, Syria, and Cuba, would give a long-term, massive boost to the crisis-ridded US economy has been seriously threatened. What is disturbing is that the Bush regime, and it’s allies, could move towards fascism in order to carry through the ‘Project for the New American century’ ( http://www.newamericancentury.org ).
What is actually happening in Iraq is a legal war against an illegal invader who are in reality the worlds biggest terrorists. The withdrawal of US forces, and for the US to return all the stolen assets to the Iraqi people, can be called for as Naomi Klein suggested should be the minimum demand of the anti-war movement in her recent article ( Guardian, Friday November 7, 2003 - " http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1079575,00.html") , and not merely US withdrawal or a temporary UN transitional occupation which is what is being demanded now. But in reality the only way this will happen is if the US military machine is forced to withdraw by a successful war against it.
What number of body bags need to be sent back to the US to achieve this is anyone’s guess: 1000, 2,000, 5,000 or 10,000? But there is a limit to the number of military deaths that the US electorate will allow Bush’s regime to sacrifice in the name of improving the US economy. And it is Bush who must directly take responsibility for every US causality, just as Blair must every British casualty, because an unconditional withdrawal of forces will prevent any further deaths.
A victory against the belligerent US occupying army is the only way the Iraqi people will get real justice, peace, and freedom. It needs to be actively supported and would be part of the process of pacifying the US who are the worlds biggest terrorists and the greatest threat to world peace. The violence that might occur on the demonstrations against Bush’s visit would be nothing compared to the disgusting violence perpetrated by his regime around the world.