An Unjust and Illegitimate War
Revolutionary Worker #1192, March 23, 2003, posted at rwor.org

The world is confronting an arrogant power hell-bent on a brutal, unjust and illegitimate war of conquest.

Millions of people all over the world have stepped out to oppose this war with passion and determination. Never in history has an act of war been so powerfully opposed before it even started. The people of the world reject the U.S. doctrines of "pre-emptive war" and their open claims of world domination.

The months of U.S. charges and diplomatic maneuvers have fallen flat--one after another. The U.S. government has zero evidence to document any Iraqi links to al-Qaida. Bush claimed he had proof that Iraq tried to buy uranium in Africa to make nuclear weapons--but UN inspectors revealed that the documents are crude forgeries.

The UN inspectors were supposed to provide the U.S. with a trigger for war--they didn't. U.S. "tips" to UN inspectors about banned weapons turned up nothing.

The UN Security Council was supposed to approve the invasion and provide a figleaf of legitimacy-- but it has been deadlocked.

The U.S. government has been running around, clutching dollars and threats, shamelessly trying to batter countries into line. Bush spoke of "discipline" for Mexico. Turkey's generals were unleashed to threaten Turkey's parliament. But despite all that, governments and ruling classes across the world--for their own reasons and interests--have refused to join the U.S. "coalition of the bullied and bribed."

Imperialist France, a U.S. ally for 50 years, is being targeted for a "Hate Week" campaign straight out of Orwell's1984. U.S. troops have supposedly written "Fuque France" on bombs being prepared for war.

Only Britain sent troops to join the invasion, and for that, Tony Blair's government seems to stagger near the brink of collapse.

After all this, the invasion of Iraq stands exposed as a truly criminal adventure of conquest and aggression.

The emperor has no clothes. He stands naked, much hated and virtually alone, but still he pulls his bloody sword to strike.

Let us be clear about what that means: The rulers of the U.S. government claim they can reshape the world singlehandedly , carrying out the disarmament of other countries, the toppling of defiant governments, the occupation of strategic regions, under a new doctrine that allows "pre-emptive war" of aggression. They have wrenched apart old alliances, they have discarded major agreements like the anti-ballistic missile treaties, they are rejecting any international forum like the UN where other powers have vetoes over their actions.

They are drunk with ambition, giddy with their supposed military superiority.

The invasion of Iraq is a massive crime against the people of that region. And at the same time, it is the next massive step toward establishing U.S. hegemony over the world.

This cannot be allowed to go down. This cannot be allowed to succeed.

We are in the opening stages of a historic power grab. The United States government has "thrown down" with great force--and it will require tremendous struggle and sacrifice to stop this war and roll back their global plans.

We Don't Want This War and We Must Stop It





The war makers in Washington wrap their military power in myths of invincibility and inevitability. They want the people of the world (including both the people within Iraq and in the United States itself) to passively and fatalistically accept this new world order.

George W. Bush swaggers to the microphone with a message borrowed from the Borg Queen on Star Trek : "Resistance is futile. Prepare to be assimilated."

Bombs are supposed to "shock and awe" Iraqi generals into changing sides. Political wannabees of many kinds are expected to line up for bit parts in the U.S. occupation--and they will be paraded daily across the TV screen, praising the U.S. invasion as "liberation."

Meanwhile the message is already beamed over TV that once war starts there is nothing to do but "support the troops" and hope U.S. victory comes as quickly and bloodlessly as possible. On TV, U.S. soldiers repeat the official line: "The road home leads through Baghdad. So let's just get it over quick and get back to our families." The point of all this is to portray antiwar resistance as wrong and irrelevant.

Everything about this logic is untrue. What the people need to do is oppose the war and support those soldiers who resist and refuse.

The antiwar resistance around the world has been powerful and unprecedented. It has already had a huge impact on world politics.

The resistance has played a powerful role stripping legitimacy from this war and deepening the isolation of the U.S. government.

Here in the belly of the beast, millions of people have stepped out to oppose their own government--to cross the line, to declare that this war is "not in our name." It has given heart and hope to people all over the world.

Governments of the world have pulled back from supporting the U.S. fearing that they might become the target of powerful resistance from their own people.

All of this needs to be intensified. The war-makers are determined to conquer Iraq. And every moment must be seized to demand that they stop.

There must be powerful and growing resistance before the war is unleashed. At the moment when it is clear that they are going to war--by announcements or by actions, such as warning the inspectors to leave Iraq, the world needs to see a massive outpouring of resistance. And if they press ahead, if missiles rain on Iraq's people and assault troops try to blast their way toward Baghdad, it becomes all the more important to resist the imperialists' grab for power with the massive mobilized power of the people.

We are passing through powerful rapids of human history--where the future is being forged for decades to come. There is an urgency to the hours, days and weeks ahead.

Ruthless imperialists are unleashing great violence to recast the world. But their reckless cruelty makes it possible to bring millions more into motion against them--including if the U.S. war is actually unleashed and the atrocities of conquest and occupation come to light.

It is up to the people to act.

This moment demands a creative, determined resistance, especially here in the U.S., where millions need to confront their "own" government and oppose this war--in that powerful, contagious, uplifting spirit of "not in our name."

The Pentagon's "Judgement of Moab"

On the eve of war, the U.S. military revealed a great deal about their intentions when they unveiled the largest conventional bomb in history--the MOAB, containing 10.5 tons of high explosive. Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld bragged that MOAB is battle-ready and can kill everyone in a huge area with one strike.

This name is carefully chosen by a U.S. government packed with Christian fundamentalists.

In the Old Testament, the prophet Isaiah foresees the "judgment of Moab"--total destruction of the cities and soldiers of the Moabites just east of the Jordan river.

Isaiah 15 says: "Fugitives shall flee... the waters of Nimrim will be desolate, for the green grass has withered away...what they have laid up, they will carry away... on the tops of their houses and in their streets everyone will wail, weeping bitterly."

The U.S. government claims this war is about destroying weapons of mass destruction and liberating the Iraqi people. But their modern vision of MOAB shows that the U.S. is preparing to use weapons of mass destruction against the people of Iraq.


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