Vol. 73/No. 16      April 27, 2009

The U.S. government has managed to cobble together a regime in Iraq that can serve as a stable ally in the region. It has been able to do this, in part, because there is no party in Iraq that is capable of uniting working people and small farmers across ethnic and religious lines in an effective fight against imperialist domination. Instead, landlord and bourgeois forces compete for their piece of the pie under U.S. domination.

But the U.S. government is not yet confident the regime in Baghdad can stand entirely on its own. Gen. Raymond Odierno admits this when he says that U.S. troop withdrawals will be delayed in Mosul and Baqubah. He also told the London Times he was “concerned” over the conflicts between Kurds and Arabs. The Kurds, an oppressed nationality in Iraq, Turkey, Iran, and Syria, have historically faced discrimination in all four countries. Washington’s concern is not for the right of the Kurdish people to self-determination, but worry that capitalist interests could be upset.

Even if the U.S. troop withdrawal goes according to plan, Washington plans to leave a garrison force of up to 50,000 in place.

At the same time, Washington is sending 21,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, stepping up drone missile attacks inside Pakistan, and crowing about killing three Somali “pirates”—all since President Obama took office. This is certainly not a “peace” president in the White House.

As the economic crisis deepens, the U.S. rulers are planning not just for more wars abroad, but for more resistance by working people in the United States. The FBI raids in Minneapolis are not solely to send a message to Somali immigrants, they are aimed at intimidating all working people who will resist cutbacks in government services, growing unemployment, and attacks on workers’ rights.

To put an end to imperialist wars once and for all, working people in the United States need to take political power out of the hands of the warmakers and begin to organize society to meet human needs, not maximize private profits.
 
 
Related articles:
U.S. force in Iraq may delay reduction  
 
 
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