Stop the imperialist aggression against Iraq-
ON THE night of January 16/17 George
Bush unleashed his strike force - of
GULF WAR
A
LL the debates and conjectures that preceded the outbreak of unprecedented power - in an attack on Iraq.
the war can now be resolved. First of these was the real objectives.
debate on its sophisticated air attack in history is under
Whatever attitude one may have way, and, at the moment of writing, appears on the question of Kuwait, there to be achieving its objectives without great be the slightest can no longer aim of the difficulty. This will come as a surprise only to doubt that the real of impressive concentration those who have either believed the campaign the Gulf
American forces in whipped up in the imperialist media around region goes beyond the "liberathe theme of the "new Hitler" with "the fourth tion" of the Emirate. This objective could have been achieved most powerful army in the world", or those through a sustained blockade, among the Arab masses who have been without bloodshed, as some of the
American establishment - fearing the negative effects of military action on imperialist interests such, going far beyond the question of Kuwait or the regime of Saddam Hussein.
The destruction of Iraqi potential by the United States and allied forces aims at eliminating a regional power capable of standing up to American plans in the area, threatening Washington's Arab financial backers and protégés, influencing the oil market and breaking the strategic superiority of the Zionist over the Arab forces, which has existed for more than four decades.
These have been the real aims of American imperialism in the Gulf crisis since the start. Those like the social democrats, who
BUREAU OF THE UNITED SECRETARIAT in the Arab and Muslim countries — wished. OF THE FOURTH INTERNATIONAL
But this was not the objective of Bush and his acolytes. This self-appointed world cop unilaterally despatched forces to the region that went well beyond what was needed to defend this other Texas that is the Saudi Arabian kingdom, or the needs of the embargo decreed by the Great Powers united in the United Nations Security Council. Since the start, Washington's real aim, as we have explained many times, has been the destruction of Iraqi military potential.
Bush plainly stated this, in an official letter addressed to Saddam Hussein during the Baker-Aziz meeting on January 9 in Geneva. This letter does not say: "leave Kuwait or we will dislodge you by force", but in substance "get out unconditionally, otherwise your military establishment will be destroyed." Given the point that things had reached, the Iraqi dictator had, furthermore, every reason to believe that, even if he withdrew, the French promises that this would carry no risk would turn out to be at best only the fond wishes of Paris.
American officials and experts were repeatedly stating that, even if Iraq decided to withdraw unconditionally from Kuwait, Saddam's Iraq would be subjected to sanctions, a continuing embargo and other forms of harassment aimed at making him pay the price for the invasion of Kuwait and strangling his military potential.
The definition of the objectives of the first phase of operation Desert Storm is eloquent. It is not the Iraqi troops stationed in Kuwait who have been attacked, nor is the assault restricted to missiles and other Iraqi military means that could be used to directly support the
The Cruise missiles and the formidable air fleet used in this phase have targeted Iraqi objectives which have a military potential in the broad sense of the term. That is to say, not just existing forces, but that might permit Iraq rebuild its military power in the future, such as the nuclear, chemical and arma-
That phase of military action that generally takes place when it has become clear that the enemy will fight to the end, was here the very first one, that is, a lightning, massive night time strike by the American forces. That is to say a deliberate aggression have pretended to believe in the "international legality" of the American action, and have defended this idea against the pacifist inclinations of public opinion, have ultimately played the game of the American big brother. The French imperialist government is not winning over anybody in the Arab world by "limiting" its participation to an attack on Kuwait. The Soviet bureaucracy, for its part, has hit the lowest level of cynicism during this crisis. After being well paid for its collusion with Washington in the UN, it has taken the opportunity to try to brutally subdue Lithuania.
What is taking place in the Gulf is the first big battle of the "new world order" so dear to the heart of George Bush. It will not be the last. The present Arab generation will have to draw the same lessons from this as did the generation of 1967, which saw at one and the same time the heroic resistance of the Vietnamese and the humiliating regimes by Israel.
Rotten bourgeois dictatorships are incapable of a victorious resistance to imperialism. The latter's technological superiority can only be overcome by a prolonged popular revolutionary mobilization supported by the world anti-imperialist and anti-militarist movements. Such support is more than ever needed for the masses of the region. For them to be able to get rid of all the tyrannies that oppress them it is first of all, and above all, necessary to win the immediate withdrawal of all the forces involved in this criminal imperialist aggression. *
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The most formidable, violent and taken in by Saddam's rhetoric.
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Apocalypse Now -
International Viewpoint #199 • February 4, 1991 ington, as we have constantly emphasized, had set itself the objective not of "liberating" Kuwait, but of destroying Iraq's military/industrial potential.
This was the minimum, non-negotiable programme for the Bush administration: not only to remove the Iraqis from Kuwait, but to remove Iraqi pretensions
NEVER in history has a war, and its plans, been "so-much foretold"', so far in advance. The offensive unleashed by the
United States army and its allies in the night of January 16/17,
1991 corresponds in detail to the scenario developed by the
Pentagon's strategists since the start of what it was convenient to describe as the "Gulf crisis".
At the time of writing — January 18, 1991, — less than 48 hours after its start, the offensive has only begun.
Nonetheless, phase 1 will certainly run according to plan, since it depends on air forces and missiles, in which the aggressors have crushing and comprehensive superiority.
The Pentagon has, of course, prepared several variants for the subsequent phases corresponding to the range of possible results of phase 1.
SALAH JABER
WO conclusions need to be