Vol. 72/No. 49      December 15, 2008

U.S. forces will still carry out military operations and burst into any home they want during “actual combat operations.” Many of the 17,000 prisoners still in U.S. hands will be transferred to Iraqi government control where they will continue to face brutal conditions and torture.

While some capitalist forces in Iraq have protested aspects of the latest occupation accord, none of them chart a course to unite working people, regardless of their religious or ethnic background, in a common fight against the imperialist occupation, much less to take on the local landlord and capitalist class. Quite the opposite. Their protests are part of the ongoing rivalry between wealthy Shiite and Sunni rulers for control of Iraq’s vast oil resources.

More importantly, no pact can end the historic oppression of the Kurdish minority or its fight for national rights.

Through this agreement Washington hopes to be able to focus attention on the war in Afghanistan, a more difficult battleground for the U.S. rulers. The Pentagon plans to send 20,000 additional soldiers there, bringing the current level to 58,000 in addition to 30,000 others under NATO command.

Washington has also made progress in bringing India and Pakistan more into its orbit: calming tensions between India and Pakistan over the disputed Kashmir region and getting the Pakistani army to participate in tracking down al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters. But the war on terror and the workings of capitalism continue to set forces in motion that the imperialist rulers cannot control, as underscored by last week’s attacks in Mumbai, India’s financial capital.

As the transformation of the U.S. military continues, the Pentagon’s goal remains to be able to rapidly put combat-ready brigades into action anywhere in the world. They know that in the years and decades ahead imperialism will face even greater challenges than in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The U.S. military is also planning a nearly sevenfold increase in the number of troops deployed inside the United States for “homeland defense”—some 20,000 uniformed soldiers by 2011. The capitalists deliberately cloud this move under the pretext of preparation for a nuclear terrorist attack or domestic “catastrophe.”

As more factories around the world close and more peasants are driven off their land, and as more wars against “terror” are launched to defend the interests of the ruling rich, working people will find ways to come together internationally and say, “Enough!”

As part of this fight, working people must get the military boot of the imperialists off their neck.
 
 
Related articles:
U.S.-Iraq deal: troops to remain 3 more years  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home