The Clinton administration will continue to pose as an advocate of "giving diplomacy a chance" right up to the start of its massive carpet bombing it has prepared. These war moves have complete bipartisan support. This includes liberal forces who argue, on behalf of the "suffering Iraqi people," that Washington should invade Iraq and topple the "evil Saddam Hussein."

Working people have nothing in common with those who advocate a "humane" way to disarm and overthrow the sovereign government of Iraq. The real threat to humanity - and the number one user of weapons of mass destruction in the world - is in Washington, D.C.

The debate in ruling circles is not whether to inflict a brutal bombing campaign on Iraq; that much is decided. The growing arguments that are voiced are for "finishing the job" that Washington failed to achieve in the 1990 - 91 Gulf War through an invasion of Iraq with U.S. ground troops. The debate on whether or not U.S. ground forces should be deployed is itself part of gaining acceptance for such a move.

The ultimate goal of the U.S. rulers is to overthrow the Saddam Hussein government and replace it with a pliant regime that will do their bidding. One of their problems is that they don't have an obvious capitalist figure to fit the bill. Despite this and other problems they may face, the U.S. rulers are plowing ahead with a "unilateral" approach. Unable to put together the imperialist "coalition" that backed its Persian Gulf War, Washington and London are leading the charge. As the biggest thug on the block, the U.S. government, with its junior partner in London at its side, is relying on the weight of its military superiority to pound other capitalist regimes - Bonn, Sydney, even Paris, as well as the Saudi and other semicolonial governments in the region - into line.

As the war pressure intensifies, the government -aided by the big-business media - will crank up its chauvinist, anti-Arab, flag-waving campaign to try to whip up support for the brutal crime it is preparing against our fellow workers and farmers in Iraq. The war drive goes hand in hand with attacks on workers at home, from Honeywell's demands for two-tier wages to the attempts by Boeing and Seattle city officials to limit the democratic rights of workers in the war industries. With wind in their sails, right-wing forces and cops will get a little more aggressive. Those who are opposed to the accelerating steps toward a U.S.-led war need to answer every one of the lies used to justify this cowardly, murderous attack and explain what's behind it. This is a time when working people need the opportunity and space to discuss these questions for ourselves.

That's why the Militant and Pathfinder books, which give a scientific explanation of imperialism and the class struggle today, are so necessary to put into the hands of fighters. The war heightens the importance of weekly plant-gate sales, Militant Labor Forums that offer a free-speech platform for working people, and socialist election campaigns, coupled with urging co-workers to join in public protests and other political activities. Unafraid to be initially in a small minority, socialist workers will become known and respected among fellow workers by following this same steady course day after day, before as well as after the actual bombing begins.

Among those repelled by what is emerging as the true and brutal face of imperialism, some young rebels and working-class fighters will want to join the communist movement and prepare for the next class battles.  
 
 
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