On the 20th of March 2003, the United States, at the head of a "coalition of the
willing", in which both Britain and Australia were prominent, invaded Iraq. Themain justification offered was the need to destroy Saddam Hussein's supposedcache of weapons of mass destruction, which was to be achieved by overthrowinghis regime. The invasion was carried out in defiance of international law and thebiggest series of coordinated demonstrations in the history of the world. ----Contrary to many peoples' expectations, the Iraqi military quickly collapsed andthe country was conquered in short order. Baghdad fell on the 9th of April, thelast region of Iraq was taken on the 15th and on the 1st of May, George W. Bushmade a speech on a US aircraft carrier beneath a banner which read "MissionAccomplished". Contrary to Bush's expectations, his administration's problemswere only just beginning.It wasn't long before the US discovered that it's one thing to conquer a country,but another thing altogether to occupy it. Having sacked all Ba'ath Party members(including tens of thousands of public servants and teachers for whom partymembership was a condition of employment), the occupation authorities quicklyfound Iraq ungovernable. Their only collaborators were fanatics, former exiles,and corrupt chancers. To make things worse, no trace of Saddam's much-hypedweapons of mass destruction could be found.An insurgency against the occupation emerged over the following years, but wassoon complicated by sectarian civil war. Iraq became a magnet for religiousjihadis, who were only too happy to cause major civilian casualties amongst theShi'ite section of Iraq's population. The insurgency was further inflamed byrevelations in 2004 of the torture conducted at Abu Ghraib. Saddam was executedin 2006, having been tried for a massacre which was far from his most heinous,but was selected for having no connection to the weapons of mass destruction hehad originally received from the United States and its allies.Following a troop surge in 2007, the US managed to stabilise the situation enoughto start drawing down its troops, leading to a withdrawal in 2011. The US and itsallies had lost almost 5,000 troops. 44,000 more were injured. The number of Iraqcasualties will likely never be known for certain, but estimates range frombetween 200,000 to over a million dead. This ranks as one of the worst crimes inmodern history.US DeclineThe Iraq War was the high point for US foreign policy arrogance.Neo-conservatives, drunk on their "death of communism" celebrations, had takenover the Republican Party and proclaimed a mission to re-make the world in theinterests of the United States.The non-appearance of Saddam's alleged weapons of mass destruction (the anti-warmovement knew it was a pack of lies) destroyed the main argument for theinvasion; the revelations of torture at Abu Ghraib demolished the credibility ofUS claims to be spreading freedom and democracy; and the insurgency demonstratedthe limits of the US casualties which were politically tolerable.After Iraq, US military actions became more risk-averse. In Afghanistan, greateffort was made to have the military forces of the puppet government take thelead. In Libya, a broad coalition of NATO members and a few others provided airsupport for local militias in conflict with the government of Muammar Gaddafi.While the military objective of overthrowing Gaddafi's regime was achieved, Libyahas remained a disaster area ever since.In Syria's many-sided civil war, the US passed up an opportunity to interveneheavily against its old ally Bashar al-Assad and has kept its interventions aswork with local allies. US ground forces are sparse. Meanwhile, the US introducedand then greatly expanded the most risk-averse approach of all - a campaign ofdrone attacks in a range of countries including Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen, andSomalia. This coward's war successfully avoids US casualties, but kills largenumbers of civilians and fails to dent the Islamist insurgencies against which itis supposedly deployed.The Next WarWe are entering a new era for US and Australian imperialism.The rise of Chinapresents an unprecedented challenge to US hegemony, and though some elements ofthe Australian ruling class wish to take advantage of an economically powerfulChina, most remain hostile to its growth.Members of the US ruling class who keep an eye on its long term interests haveknown for two decades that it had to deal with a rising China, but they have beenfrustrated by the tendency of successive Presidents to be dragged back toproblems in West Asia. The War on Terror, the Iraq War, and the fallout from theArab Spring have generated quagmires which forced the US to deal with conflictsthat distract from the developing rivalry with China. Now, however, the "pivot toAsia" first announced under Barack Obama is being executed by Joe Biden. Suddenlythe multiple security threats in West Asia, talked up in the media for decades,have largely disappeared, and are now replaced by lurid stories of China'snefarious agenda.Australia's RoleAustralia is a minor imperialist power and its governments have historicallysought to advance its interests under the umbrella of a great power - firstBritain and later the United States. This requires Australian troops to bedispatched to assist in whatever wars in which its great ally could use someassistance. The quid pro quo is an Australian sphere of interest in the SouthPacific and, in later years, Timor Leste.The Australian alliance with the US is not one of complete subservience(Australian capitalists know their wealth is tied to Australia's massive exportsboth to China and to other countries also reliant on the Chinese economy), butit's one that relies on a strong US military presence in East Asia and thus anaggressive posture. This is where AUKUS comes in.AUKUS is at the pointy end of US military planning, with nuclear submarines to bedeployed into straits and channels in the first island chain, a series of largeand small islands that separate the South China Sea and the East China Sea fromthe Pacific Ocean. The Chinese navy will need US permission to enter the PacificOcean, which will remain an American lake. Australian governments of bothpolitical persuasions have signed on to help.The other crucial aspect to consider in this context is the US spy base at PineGap, near Alice Springs. This is an essential part of the US global satellitesurveillance system, allowing the US to observe events in a third of the world -including, crucially, China. Without this base, the US would have a surveillanceblind spot over its number one rival. Uncle Sam seriously needs Australia as an ally.War or PeaceThe US agenda to contain China and prevent its growth into a developed country isa crime against humanity. An even greater one is the danger in the next few yearsthat the United States might launch a war on China, using Taiwan as a pretext.This must, at all costs, be prevented. The failure of the anti-war movement toprevent the destruction of Iraq must be learnt from if we are to prevent a warwith China. The movement was largely captured by bureaucratic groups committed tolegal, non-disruptive protest rallies and A-to-B marches. What was needed was amass movement capable of directly intervening in disrupting the war machine,principled opposition to Australian imperialism, and workers' struggles whichcould make the bosses and politicians submit to its demands.REPORT THIS ADThe Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group has no illusions in the Chinese so-called"Communist" Party. The Beijing regime is run by corrupt Stalinist tyrants whohave crushed civil liberties in Hong Kong and instituted extremely repressiveconditions in Tibet and Xinjiang. In addition, we have no interest in defendingits actions in its territorial disputes with its neighbours. These disputesconcern the interests of the CCP. They have nothing to do with the interests ofthe global working class.The perspective of the MACG is to oppose imperialist war by building the globalunity of the working class against all bosses and governments and not bysupporting the military forces of any State. Living in Australia, we have aparticular duty to oppose Australian imperialism and the military actions takento advance its interests. We call for the working class to block Australianparticipation in AUKUS and to force the closure of Pine Gap. This will require apolitical struggle against the ALP and the Laborite bureaucrats who currently runthe unions in Australia. Workers must organise rank and file power. We have nochoice.STOP THE NEXT WARSHUT DOWN AUKUSCLOSE PINE GAPhttps://melbacg.wordpress.com/2023/07/12/iraq-afterwards/_________________________________________A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C EBy, For, and About AnarchistsSend news reports to A-infos-en mailing listA-infos-en@ainfos.ca
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten