Vol. 80/No. 1      January 4, 2016

 

25, 50, and 75 Years Ago

 

January 11, 1991

As Washington counts down the days until its January 15 deadline for Iraqi forces to be withdrawn from Kuwait, the massive and speedy deployment of U.S. forces to the Mideast continues. On December 28, 16,000 U.S. sailors and marines left from several ports for battle stations in the Arab-Persian Gulf.

The troops were aboard a 17-ship fleet led by two aircraft carriers, each carrying about 90 warplanes. They will join four other carrier groups already in or on their way to the Middle East, part of an overall deployment involving 430,000 U.S. military personnel.

The U.S. State Department lists 54 countries that have made some kind of military or monetary contribution to the imperialist war drive against the Iraqi people.

January 3, 1966

DEC. 29 — Two Iranian youths sentenced to death by a military court because of their opposition to the dictatorship of Shah Mohammed Riza Pahlevi have had their sentences commuted to life in prison following an international defense campaign sparked by Iranian students studying abroad. The two men were among 12 youths sentenced Nov. 1.

The students — five of whom had returned to Iran after completing their studies in Britain — were arrested last Spring. They were subject to torture. It is common practice in Iran’s U. S.- backed regime for such trials to be closed and for prisoners accused of political opposition to disappear. But there are over 20,000 Iranian students abroad, mainly in Western Europe and the U.S., and a campaign begun among them threw a spotlight on the fate of their colleagues.

January 4, 1941

President Roosevelt’s “fireside chat” last Sunday night was the equivalent of a military engagement of considerable magnitude. Roosevelt, proponent of measures “short of war” to aid Britain, in this speech went up almost to the final point short of an actual declaration of war in aligning this country on the world war front.

Roosevelt dropped all diplomatic pretenses as far as the fundamental issues were concerned. He served notice on the Axis that U.S. imperialism regards itself as the prime object of the tri-powered Axis alliance. He ruled out any question of a “negotiated” peace and in doing so accepted on behalf of American imperialism the gage thrown down by German imperialism, which has already indicated that it likewise regards this war as an “all-or-nothing” affair.  
 
 
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