Fw: [ANSWER] Emergency Iraq Protests

["nello margiotta" <nellomargiotta55 at virgilio.it>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "A.N.S.W.E.R." <answer at action-mail.org>
To: <ANSWER.general at organizerweb.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 07, 2004 8:20 AM
Subject: [ANSWER] Emergency Iraq Protests


> *EMERGENCY IRAQ PROTESTS*
> 
> NATIONALLY-COORDINATED DAYS OF ACTION
> Friday, April 9 - Monday, April 12
> 
> To demand:
> - U.S. OUT OF IRAQ
> - Bring the Troops Home Now
> - Money for jobs, education and healthcare - Not for wars 
> of aggression
> 
> *Call initiated by the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition*
> 
> See below for details of protests in New York City, 
> Washington DC, San Francisco and Los Angeles, downloadable 
> flyers, and a link to a form to list your city's action on 
> the website and in future emails.
> 
> * * * * *
> 
> IRAQ AT THE BOILING POINT
> 
> The Iraqi revolt against occupation is spreading in 
> qualitative developments. The Pentagon is reacting with a 
> murderous iron fist that is making the popular Iraqi 
> position increasingly clear to the world: that the 
> occupation forces are indeed an enemy - not liberators.
> 
> In the last 72 hours, as the colonial force attempts to 
> hold the country in a tight grip, the number of casualties 
> has mounted, as Iraqi cities are besieged and bombed by 
> missiles and tanks. Street fighting is raging throughout 
> the country.
> 
> In a classic demonstration of colonial practices, the U.S. 
> is conducting a widespread reign of terror. In fact, the 
> U.S. and its allies are now conducting military operations 
> in Ramadi, Baghdad, Basra, Mosul, Sadr, Adamiya, Kufa, 
> Kut, Karabla, Amarah, Kirkuk, Mosul, Nasiriyah, Shula, and 
> other cities and towns. The city of Fallujah has been 
> exceptionally targeted. This is the same city where in the 
> first weeks of the occupation U.S. troops took over a 
> local school and killed 15 residents who were protesting 
> the takeover of the facility.
> 
> Yet, this is not exactly George W. Bush's Vietnam. During 
> Vietnam it took years for the majority of the people and 
> most soldiers to turn against the war. This time, the 
> people of the United States have learned within the span 
> of only one year that the war against Iraq is not only 
> based on outright fabrications and lies. One year after 
> the occupation, and even before, the people of this 
> country and the world are and have been turning against 
> the occupation and the warmakers.
> 
> Although an allegation has been made that this is isolated 
> "trouble" within a "Sunni Triangle," the revolt is in 
> reality over an entire Iraqi rectangle encompassing nearly 
> all areas - from north to south. Over the past three days, 
> the previously simmering rejection of foreign occupation 
> has evolved into a near full-scale revolt that has spread 
> to many cities in the south of Iraq.  All while the U.S. 
> has implemented collective punishment against the people 
> of Fallujah and other cities in the central part of the 
> country.
> 
> In a predictable attempt at molding public opinion, the 
> U.S. media continues to use racist stereotyping to 
> characterize those who are resisting. The constant 
> designation of the Iraqi people as "Sunnis" or "Shiites" 
> is carefully calculated language designed to conceal the 
> single most important fact: that the Iraqi people (Sunni 
> and Shiite) believe that their country has been seized by 
> foreign imperialist occupying forces and that they - as 
> one people - are fighting to evict them.
> 
> If the analogy with Vietnam has validity, it is this: U.S. 
> political leaders, again emboldened by arrogance and drunk 
> with power, falsely believe that their possession of high 
> tech weapons is sufficient to subdue small Third World 
> countries seeking independence and sovereignty. The words 
> associated with Vietnam - "debacle," "quagmire," etc. - 
> are certainly apt for Bush's war and the occupation of 
> Iraq.
> 
> But there are fundamental differences between the war in 
> Vietnam and Iraq. The most important one being that the 
> United States could, at the end of the day, disengage from 
> Southeast Asia and withdraw from Vietnam. The policy 
> planners and decision makers for the U.S. imperial 
> establishment know full well that the United States 
> military, political and economic structures will never 
> voluntarily withdraw from Western Asia and Northern 
> Africa, also known as the Middle East.
> 
> This is where the oil is. Not just in Iraq, but also 
> throughout the Gulf region where two-thirds of the world's 
> known petroleum reserves are located. This region is also 
> the gateway to the rapidly expanding economies of East and 
> Southeast Asia, the northern entrance to the African 
> continent from Europe, and the where several strategic 
> waterways are located: the Suez Canal, Gibraltar Strait, 
> the Red Sea, and the Gulf. The Arab portion of that region 
> is also simmering with a popular notion of unity and 
> desire for full sovereignty spanning northern Africa and 
> western Asia. It is where the Palestinian struggle anchors 
> a populist anti-colonial sentiment, and where imposed 
> proxy regimes are dependent in their existence directly on 
> the U.S. In the heart of that region, there is Israel, the 
> U.S.'s most important ally and power broker, functioning 
> as a spearhead that simultaneously requires a political, 
> economic and diplomatic cover and support from the U.S.
> 
> Absolute control - military control - over these highly 
> strategic resources is the key to the exercise of hegemony 
> in the world capitalist economy. If the United States were 
> to leave, Japan, Germany, Britain, France would be quick 
> to attempt to fill the void. Therefore, Bush does not 
> contemplate withdrawing from Iraq as an option, nor would 
> it be a considered option if Kerry replaces Bush in 
> November.
> 
> The Bush gang opted to use naked military force as a means 
> of further consolidating an existing U.S. dictatorship 
> over the region. The project in Iraq was designed not only 
> to crush the Iraqi government, it was seen as a means to a 
> larger end. The plan was to build large-scale U.S. 
> military bases in Iraq, establish in Baghdad the largest 
> U.S. embassy (more than 3,000 personnel) in the world, and 
> use Iraq as the launching pad for regime change throughout 
> the region - the imposition of a true Pax Americana. 
> Earlier U.S. governments, including the Clinton 
> administration, also declared regime change in Iraq as the 
> top priority in U.S-Iraq relations. The Bush 
> administration, however, saw Iraq in a different light: 
> that the conquest and takeover of Iraq would be used as a 
> strategic pivot for the long-term reorganization and 
> globalization of this region under U.S. authority.
> 
> This was not the first time the U.S. has utilized Iraq for 
> this purpose. In 1955, the Baghdad Pact was orchestrated 
> by Britain and the U.S. as a response to the emergence of 
> the non-aligned movement that was established in Bandung, 
> Indonesia by decolonizing movements and nations. The Iraqi 
> people have never accepted that they should be pawns in 
> someone else's geo-strategic chess board. They have always 
> resisted colonialism.
> 
> Tens of thousands of Iraqis have died already as their 
> country was invaded and occupied. It is clear from the 
> events of the recent days that so many Iraqis are enraged 
> and disgusted with the occupation of their country that 
> thousands and thousands of people are prepared to give 
> their life rather than accept foreign domination.
> 
> The Iraqis are paying with their lives rather than be 
> colonial subjects. Meanwhile, the young men and women of 
> the foreign occupying forces, including U.S. troops, 
> really just want to go home. They and their families know 
> that contrary to the assertions of Rumsfeld, the U.S. 
> forces are not considered liberators by the people. This 
> is the classic equation for an unwinnable imperialist war. 
> In this sense too, the conflict resembles Vietnam. The 
> Vietnamese people were prepared to endure immeasurable 
> sacrifice to reclaim control over the country against 
> foreign occupying forces that, in turn, only wanted only 
> to return to their families in one piece.
> 
> In the recent days, the U.S. media establishment has been 
> filled with analysis and stories reflecting the grave 
> concern within the political establishment that Bush's 
> Iraq design may be creating the biggest crisis for U.S. 
> imperialism since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The 
> actions of Bush and Rumsfeld have catalyzed a revolt that 
> is moving from an embryonic stage to a potential 
> full-scale rebellion. Unable to prevent the spread of the 
> rebellion by other means, the U.S. military is carrying 
> out more murderous repression against the people, which in 
> turn will inflame the situation in Iraq and throughout the 
> region. Under these conditions, there is no actual exit or 
> withdrawal strategy in site. Even should the U.S. succeed 
> in outsourcing the occupation authority from Paul Bremmer 
> to his hand picked Iraqi proxies, there will be no actual 
> exit of U.S. military forces from Iraq.
> 
> Even the phony exit strategy is collapsing as the Pentagon 
> brass ponders the current need, like General Westmoreland 
> did 1967, to send thousands of additional troops to crush 
> a rebellion that has its roots in the anti-colonial 
> yearnings of an occupied people. Rumsfeld has said 
> publicly that he is considering sending additional troops 
> to Iraq. The Pentagon has relied not only on the 
> 120,000-plus U.S. military forces but, according to 
> Nightline on April 6, an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 "guns 
> for hire" - U.S., British and South African mercenaries - 
> that are now fighting in Iraq under the euphemistic label 
> "private contractors."
> 
> The people of the world, including the people of the U.S., 
> created an unprecedented mass movement in the last 18 
> months opposing Bush's war and subsequent occupation of 
> Iraq. At this critical time it is urgent to take to the 
> streets in emergency mobilizations to demand: U.S. Out of 
> Iraq; Bring the Troops Home Now; Money for jobs, education 
> and healthcare - Not for wars of aggression.
> 
>  From Friday April 9 through Monday April 12 there will be 
> nationally-coordinated emergency local demonstrations in 
> cities and towns throughout the country. Organize an 
> action in your local area. To list your local action on 
> the website and in future emails, fill out the easy-to-use 
> form at 
> http://www.internationalanswer.org/campaigns/a10/event.html
> 
> NEW YORK CITY
> Friday, April 9
> 4:30 pm
> Times Square
> 212-633-6646
> 
> WASHINGTON DC
> Saturday, April 10
> 12 noon
> White House (Lafayette Park)
> 202-544-3389
> 
> LOS ANGELES
> Friday, April 9
> 5 pm
> Westwood Federal Building (Wilshire & Veteran)
> 213-487-2368
> 
> SAN FRANCISCO
> Saturday, April 10
> 12 noon
> UN Plaza (Market St. between 7th St. and Hyde. Civic 
> Center BART)
> 415-821-6545
> 
> Downloadable flyers, other literature and more can be 
> found at:
> http://www.internationalanswer.org/campaigns/a10/index.html
> 
> LIST YOUR LOCAL ACTION:
> Fill out the easy-to-use form at
> http://www.internationalanswer.org/campaigns/a10/event.html
> to list your city's or campus's event! A list of national 
> actions will be available soon.
> 
> --------------------------
> 
> A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
> Act Now to Stop War & End Racism
> 
> FOR MORE INFORMATION:
> http://www.InternationalANSWER.org
> info at internationalanswer.org
> New York 212-633-6646
> Washington 202-544-3389
> Los Angeles 213-487-2368
> San Francisco 415-821-6545
> 
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