MIM Notes 282 · May 15, 2003 · Page 1
MIM Notes
May 15, 2003, Nº 282
The Official Newsletter of the Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM)
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T
he United $tates and its partners
the European Union, United
Nations and Russia presented
I$raeli and Palestinian leaders a "road
map to peace" on April 30. According to
hype, this is a new plan that will demand
equal concessions from both I$raelis and
Palestinians. In fact, the "road map"
rehashes earlier failed proposals. In
particular, it demands the Palestinians
renounce armed struggle unconditionally,
ignoring the basic reality that I$rael's
settlements make it the aggressor--and
aggressor with massive military
superiority.
Some neo-conservatives and Zionists
believe the "road map" is different
because the geopolitical situation has
changed. The recent Iraq war showed
the world that resistance to the United
$tates is futile, they argue. Oppressed
peoples like the Palestinians should just
suck it up and accept whatever crumbs
Uncle $am wants to give them. Such
arguments reveal what kind of "peace"
these war-mongers want--secure
domination of the oppressors over the
oppressed. They do not want to justly
address the roots of conflict: in this case,
the unfulfilled right of the Palestinians to
self-determination.
The "peace" these warmongers seek
is chimeric. Just like the "success" of
covert operations in Afghanistan in the
1980s led to September 11, and like the
"success" of I$rael's military and political
moves against the first Palestinian
intifadah led to the current uprising, the
current wars in Afghanistan and Iraq will
lead to future tragedy and war. In their
own long-term interests--to say nothing
of the interests of humynity as a whole--
Amerikans need to break with their
leaders who have proven incapable of
Rai and
Chomsky give
`ten reasons
against war
on Iraq'
This review was written just after U.$.
ground forces invaded Iraq and
published on our website. It remains
relevant, as the Amerikan war-mongers
have turned the deceitful rhetoric they
used against Iraq towards other
countries, such as Syria and North
Korea. For example, there is this lie that
Amerikan military aggression can stop
the spread of "weapons of mass
destruction" ...
War Plan Iraq: Ten Reasons
against War on Iraq
by Milan Rai & Noam Chomsky
London: Verso, 2002, 240pp. pb
T
his book contains pleas for peace
from 911 victims, photos of
potential Iraqi victims, a chapter
by Noam Chomsky and a thorough
account of the background leading to the
war in 2003. Milan Rai helps us refute a
number of myths being spread by the war-
mongers right now:
1. Myth: there was 12 years time
for diplomacy to work in disarming
Saddam Hussein. Now it's time for
"action."
Fact: The United $tates never backed
disarming Hussein and ordered the end
of UN inspections in 1998 just before they
were going to certify Hussein free of
weapons of mass destruction.
In the whole 12 years, Iraq was under
military occupation with no-fly zones in
the north and the south. Also thanks to
ongoing military action unreasonably
extended, Iraq was not able to trade
without the use of smugglers. Although
most Amerikkkans were not paying
attention to any news at all before 911,
the war in Afghanistan and now Gulf War
II, the military all along said it was in
charge of Iraq's infrastructure. Colonel
John Warden explained how the United
$tates was using humanitarian disaster to
U$ Plans for Palestine
`Road' to Nowhere
Southern Culture
Reviewed
MIM never shies away from
unpleasant tasks, so when debates over
pro-slavery symbols in the Georgia state
flag and the Dixie Chicks grab headlines,
we speak up. Nor is nostalgia for open
white supremacy limited to the South,
as seen in recent comments from Cal.
Republican Bill Back. The lesson
communists take from these incidents
is that "supporting majority rule when
the majority could well be Back or Lott
supporters is unacceptable." We also
review the film Gods and Generals,
aimed at the Civil War reenactment set.
See pages six and seven.
finding a just solution to the problem of
peace and security.
As a public service we review
propaganda guidelines put out by the pro-
I$rael Wexler Analysis (see page nine).
While admitting privately that I$raeli
settlements in Palestine are I$rael's
"Achilles heel,"
the guidelines
aim to place the
blame for the
inevitable failure
of the "road
map" on the
Palestinians.
Continued on page 4...
MIM Notes 282 · May 15, 2003 · Page 2
What is MIM?
The Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM) is the collection of existing or emerging
Maoist internationalist parties in the English-speaking imperialist countries and their English-
speaking internal semi-colonies, as well as the existing or emerging Maoist Internationalist
parties in Belgium, France and Quebec and the existing or emerging Spanish-speaking
Maoist Internationalist parties of Aztlan, Puerto Rico and other territories of the U.$. Empire.
MIM Notes is the newspaper of MIM. Notas Rojas is the newspaper of the Spanish-speaking
parties or emerging parties of MIM. MIM upholds the revolutionary communist ideology
of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and is an internationalist organization that works from the
vantage point of the Third World proletariat. MIM struggles to end the oppression of all
groups over other groups: classes, genders, nations. MIM knows this is only possibly by
building public opinion to seize power through armed struggle. Revolution is a reality for
North America as the military becomes over-extended in the government's attempts to
maintain world hegemony. MIM differs from other communist parties on three main
questions: (1) MIM holds that after the proletariat seizes power in socialist revolution, the
potential exists for capitalist restoration under the leadership of a new bourgeoisie within
the communist party itself. In the case of the USSR, the bourgeoisie seized power after the
death of Stalin in 1953; in China, it was after Mao's death and the overthrow of the "Gang
of Four" in 1976. (2) MIM upholds the Chinese Cultural Revolution as the farthest advance
of communism in humyn history. (3) As Marx, Engels and Lenin formulated and MIM has
reiterated through materialist analysis, imperialism extracts super-profits from the Third
World and in part uses this wealth to buy off whole populations of oppressor nation so-
called workers. These so-called workers bought off by imperialism form a new petty-
bourgeoisie called the labor aristocracy. These classes are not the principal vehicles to
advance Maoism within those countries because their standards of living depend on
imperialism. At this time, imperialist super-profits create this situation in the Canada, Quebec,
the United $tates, England, France, Belgium, Germany, Japan, Italy, Switzerland,
Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Israel, Sweden and Denmark. MIM accepts people as
members who agree on these basic principles and accept democratic centralism, the system
of majority rule, on other questions of party line.
"The theory of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin is universally applicable. We should
regard it not as dogma, but as a guide to action. Studying it is not merely a matter of
learning terms and phrases, but of learning Marxism-Leninism as the science of revolution."
- Mao Zedong, Selected Works, Vol. II, p. 208.
Editor, MC206; Production, MC12
Letters
MIM Notes
The Official Newsletter of The Maoist Internationalist Movement
ISSN 1540-8817
MIM Notes is the bi-weekly newsletter of the Maoist Internationalist Movement. MIM
Notes is the official Party voice; more complete statements are published in our journal,
MIM Theory. Material in MIM Notes is the Party's position unless noted. MIM Notes
accepts submissions and critiques from anyone. The editors reserve the right to edit
submissions unless permission is specifically denied by the author; submissions are
published anonymously unless authors insist on identification (prisoners are never
identified by name). MIM is an underground party that does not publish the names of its
comrades in order to avoid the state surveillance and repression that have historically
been directed at communist parties and anti-imperialist movements. MCs, MIM comrades,
are members of the Party. The Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League (RAIL) is an anti-
imperialist mass organization led by MIM (RCs are RAIL Comrades). MIM's ten-point
program is available to anyone who sends in a SASE.
The paper is free to all prisoners, as long as they write to us every 90 days to confirm
their subsciptions. There are no individual subscriptions for people outside prison.
People who want to receive newspapers should become sponsors and distributors.
Sponsors pay for papers, distributors get them onto the streets, and officers do both
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Mail), $3,840; 900 (8-10 days), $2,200. To become a sponor or distributor, send
anonymous money orders payable to "MIM." Send to MIM, attn: Camb. branch, PO Box
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Most back issues of MIM Notes are available free on our web site. The web site con-
tains thousands of documents, with ordering information for many more.
MIM grants explicit permission to copy all or part of this newspaper for any reason, as
long as we are credited.
For general correspondence, contact:
MIM
P.O. Box 29670
Los Angeles, CA 90029-0670
eMail: <mim@mim.org>
WWW: <http//www.etext.info/Politics/MIM>
MIM writes truth
about imperialism and
Iraq
MIM gives us the truth behind U.S.
imperialism and its dynamics. It is true
that anyone who supports the policies in
this country and its jingoism supports the
blood thirsty killers who are bent on totally
colonizing the Middle East to enrich
themselves even more with the Middle
Eastern natural resources. To even
further my statement, it is true that
anyone who perpetuates the economics
of the u.s. thru whatever way receives
blood money. Not only has the Middle
East been colonized but 90 countries have
been invaded by the filth of western
culture. Iraq is to be sucked into the
vacuum of America in this war in Iraq.
What is amazing to me is that there is
not one Muslim in this country even
attempting to at least protest this war. It
seems there are more whites protesting
the war in Iraq. A percentage of these
whites protest the war but they support
the decision to have Hussein removed
from office by the U.S. when the U.S.
has no business trying to dictate to anyone
but themselves. Domestic problems of this
country have not been addressed but yet
the taxpayer's money is going towards
this war in Iraq.
Another issue that is disturbing is the
Arab countries in the Middle East are
allowing the destruction of Iraq as we
speak. People in the world have their
priorities hideously mixed up. Anyone
with any sense of politics knows that this
war in Iraq is behind oil and Iraq's
geographical location to spy on Iran and
other neighboring Middle Eastern
countries. Organizations like MIM know
the real truth. This disease of the white
predatory political economy that must
create war must do what it does because
murder is a dynamic of the capitalist
system. Thanks to your organization's
publication we are kept abreast of those
facts.
-- A prisoner in California,
April 2003
MIM responds: We have seen many
Muslim individuals and organizations on
the streets protesting the war in Iraq.
Many Arab Muslims in particular
correctly tie this war to the situation in
Palestine where Amerika finances
genocidal colonialism by Israel. And by
making these ties they push the anti-war
movement to a broader understanding of
imperialism.
Aside from the anti-imperialists who
have led the anti-war organizing, the anti-
war movement has a liberal pacifist
character. This keeps it from addressing
the colonization of internal (and external)
oppressed nations--and in that sense, the
anti-war movement is indeed white and
held up by its compulsion to appeal to
middle Amerika. Spokespeople for the
liberal "anti-war" majority have ruthlessly
criticized the radical minority for failing
to reach out to the chauvinist white
majority--yet it's the anti-imperialist
minority that's actually accomplished
something. More proof that political line
and umph are what counts, not mere
numbers.
How does Uncle $am
spell relief?
Well, the U.$. has finally invaded Iraq
and as we know a win will guarantee a
long term oil supply for the capitalists'
economy. It's not only for profit but also
control as to foreign policy and oil
companies here in the u$. The capitalistic
government knows that Saudi Arabia will
begin to use its resources as influence
since they are the biggest exporters from
this oil rich region. So instead of seeing a
repeat of the oil embargo of 1973, the
capitalists jump on the chance to make
billions of dollars for Texaco, Chevron and
Exxon Mobil by waging war and give the
people the impression that they are
deposing a tyrant with weapons of mass
destruction and penchant for violence.
Also the stolen petroleum will help rebuild
the country it bombarded with its own
weapons of destruction.
--a New York prisoner March 2003
Keep up the good
work!
Dear MIM,
Greetings to all. First and foremost,
thank you for MIM Notes and the RAIL
website. These are sources of
information vital to the struggles around
the world and here in Amerika. With
today's mass media being the center of
censorship, it's nice to have REAL news!
Being an avid reader of MIM Notes, and
being somewhat of a writer myself, I have
written some poetry inspired from reading
MIM [printed on page 6]. I am not entirely
sure about your policies on submissions,
but I thought I would write and send you
these poems anyway. I have noticed a
few printed by you from prisoners in the
last few issues, I thought I would pass
them on. Delete them, print them, or
critisize them, I don't mind. I thank you
for your time, and your efforts. Your a
wealth of information, and I will continue
to read MIM and RAIL always.
Thank you,
--an Internet reader
MIM Responds: We welcome
submissions of news articles, short poetry
and artwork. Guidelines for news
submissions can be found at http://
www.etext.info/Politics/MIM/faq/
mnstyle.html. Ideas for artistic
submissions are also available: http://
www.etext.info/Politics/MIM/art/
frustart.html.
MIM Notes 282 · May 15, 2003 · Page 3
Table 1. Summary statistics: April 2003 vs. April 2002
Statistic
April, 2002
April, 2003
% change
Number of different MIM web page files actively chosen from 3,784
3,436
-9
Avg. MIM pages served per day
1,977
3,735*
89
MIM data transferred
99 Mb/day
214 Mb/day
114
Number of different computers MIM served
22,875
51,029*
123
Amazon visitors sent from web page
213
677
218
Number of Art page users
Unknown
6,355
N/A
MIM Notes printed copies compared with pre-911
211
MIM prison circulation averaged over two months Jan 2002
112
*This report excludes all art, and most robots and developer hits for 2003 but not 2002
Table 2. Web traffic: March vs. April, 2003
Department
Mar-03
Apr-03
% chnge
Agitation
2,145
7,209
236
Bookstore
5,342
10,764
102
Albany
55
104
89
Chinese
787
1,204
53
Russian
94
135
44
FAQ
4,084
5,674
39
Classic quotes
564
763
35
New York City
60
81
35
Movies
1,482
1,995
35
Turkish
65
86
32
Contemporary controversies/countries page
842
1,088
29
What is MIM?
4,089
5,089
25
California
883
1,062
20
Black Panther page
4,303
5,101
19
Notas Rojas
1,127
1,318
17
Study packs
103
118
15
French
975
1,103
13
MIM Theory
2,882
3,240
12
Maoist Sojourner
223
248
11
German
207
230
11
MIM Notes
5,614
6,213
11
RAIL
2,350
2,570
9
Finnish
166
168
1
RAIL fliers (within RAIL page)
603
562
-7
Art
7,369
6,355
-14
April, 2003 Central Task Report
by PIRAO Chief, May 1, 2003
Again, thanks in part to the heroic
struggle of the Iraqi people against
imperialist invaders, April was a big
breakthrough month for the web page and
MIM Notes distribution. It's difficult to
celebrate when we know that much of
the interest in our web page arose from
the brutality of the war on Iraq and when
we also know we did not succeed in
stopping the terrorism of our government.
We did not maintain the blistering pace
of the first few days of April, because
the population largely concluded that the
"war is over." Attention dropped off and
then resumed at a higher and steadier
level toward the end of the month. For
MIM, the brightest spot is the
improvement of our agitation numbers
from low levels. Especially in the past
year, we seemed to be attracting people
more and more consistently for historical
and theoretical purposes. People were
reading more material and deepening
their understanding of MIM. Now we
have a "widening" trend going on with a
large influx of people looking at our web
page.
In this report we compare March with
April. We have to remember that March
has one more day than April and thus we
expect our monthly totals of people visiting
a web page to be lower if a department
merely stagnated. If number of visitors
only shrunk 3% over March in a
department, then the department was
stagnant, not actually shrinking on a per
day traffic basis.
This month, the Black Panther page,
MIM Notes 1-250 and the arts page each
had more hits than the home page. The
above table counts the languages all the
same way, based on number of visitors.
It reveals that Spanish is now language
MIM media keep growing
number two, Chinese third and French
fourth for our web page.
Of note on the agitation page, the first
article listed was not the most popular.
The most popular new April article was
"Amerikkkans: The Redcoats of the 21st
Century" with 503 hits.
We expect May will be another big
month for MIM. We are also working
again this year to see what we can do to
avoid the summer slump we usually see.
At the current pace of growth, MIM
would achieve the suggested Five Year
Plan for web page growth in less than
three years. If there are a number of
wars going on, perhaps MIM would
achieve the goal sooner. There are both
external factors beyond our control and
internal factors within our grasp. MIM
has never had a better understanding of
what it is that increases our web page
traffic. There is continuous demand for
our documents. Although at some points
in our history we have had trouble giving
out papers and articles fast enough, we
are definitely now in a position where we
cannot write material fast enough or find
enough money to get the material out
there.
On February 24 about 150 students
from the California State University
system's 23 universities rallied on the
steps of the capitol in Sacramento
protesting increased student fees. There
has already been a 10% increase in fees
this year and Davis has proposed
increasing them by another 25%.(1)
As MIM Notes reported recently,
Davis announced sweeping budget cuts
in January in response to a huge budget
deficit. However, after cutting funds from
nearly everything in the state, Davis
announced a proposed 1% budget
increase for the Department of
Corrections. Davis has accepted more
than $3 million in campaign contributions
from the prison guards' union, so it is no
surprise Davis wants to increase funding
for the powerful union. Contrast this
increase to his proposed reduction in
spending on education: a 4.2% decrease
for the University of California and a
4.5% decrease for California State
University.(2)
On March 1 MIM and RAIL attended
a conference on social justice for social
workers at Cal State Sacramento to
collect signatures to shut down the SHU
(Security Housing Units) control units in
California prisons, at the invitation of one
of the organizers. Several people
connected the issue of Davis' proposed
increase in the prison budget to cuts in
education funding.
The audience was largely supportive
with several attendees working in the
prison system and many people quickly
agreeing to sign the petition and
encouraging their friends to do the same.
Those who challenged us, claiming that
violent prisoners need to be punished and
isolated, were quickly shot down by
arguments from their fellow conference
participants who had worked in prisons
or studied the issue. They pointed out that
the SHU is used to target politically active
prisoners, that California prison guards are
notorious for setting up the violence and
gang fights they claim to be stopping, and
that the SHU only drives prisoners crazy.
The Third World Forum, a publication
by students at UC Davis, provides useful
information on a connection between the
prison and education issues: "The UC
employed Lehman Brothers, a Wall Street
investment bank that has become the
major financial backer of the U.S. prison
industry, to sell $196 million of bonds in
1999, $132 million in 2001, and $45 million
in 2002. This makes the UC one of
Lehman's biggest clients. Lehman made
a profit of approximately $2 million from
those deals. That is profit that was made
from capital which mostly came from
OUR student fees. A movement calling
for the UC to divest from it's stake in
Lehman is already underway.... This fight
is not impossible, recent history has taught
us that the University can be forced to
put People over profits when it was forced
to have Sodexho divest it's 10% state in
Corrections Corporation of America."(3)
This refers to the victory in 2000 when a
student movement on 60 campuses
forced campus caterer Sodexho-Marriott
Services to sell its leading stake in CCA.
MIM calls on education and prison
activists to connect these issues and join
us in the fight against the criminal injustice
system. Since 1984 California has built
21 prisons and only one public university.
The state ranks #1 in prison spending and
#43 in spending on public education.(3)
In California and across the country
Amerika is imprisoning more and more
Black and Latino youth while cutting
educational opportunities. To get involved
in the fight check out the latest news and
actions at http://www.etext.info/Politics/
MIM/agitation/prisons
Notes:
1. The State Hornet, CSU Sacramento, Feb 26,
2003.
2. MIM Notes #275, Feb 1, 2003
3. Third World Forum, Vol 24 #2, Feb. 2003.
California slashes education
budget, boosts prisons spending
MIM Notes 282 · May 15, 2003 · Page 4
shape Saddam Hussein's behavior:
"`Saddam, when you agree to do these
things, we will allow people to come in
and fix your electricity.'"(p. 139) The war
in Iraq never ended; hence to blame
failure on "diplomacy" as if military
means were not in use the whole time is
misleading.
In March 1997, Bill Clinton's U.$.
Secretary of State Madelaine Albright
said that even if Iraq complied with the
UN resolutions,(p. 47) the United $tates
would not lift economic sanctions against
Iraq, contrary to Paragraph 22 of the UN
Resolution 687 on Iraq. Needless to say
this gave Iraq little reason to cooperate
with UN arms inspectors and Iraq had
no choice but to consider war to end the
sanctions and deter the United $tates,
which clearly indicated that weapons
inspections were secondary to some other
U.$. goal in Iraq.
In 1998, Russia, China and France
asked the United $tates to uphold
Paragraph 22 if Iraq disarmed. On
October 30th, the United $tates said "no"
again.(p. 48) At this time, many (including
U.$. employees) realized that the United
$tates was stabbing the UN in the back,
and trying to force the UN to fail in order
to justify U.$. pursuit of other interests
besides weapons inspections.
In fact, the United $tates was caught
using the weapons inspectors to infiltrate
with a team of CIA spies attempting to
overthrow Saddam Hussein.(pp. 55, 201)
Whatever it was the United $tates was
trying to achieve, it was willing to sacrifice
the weapons inspections to stage a coup
against Saddam Hussein. Of course, Iraq
had no choice but to oppose inspections
that were not inspections.
Twice in 1998, the UNSCOM weapons
inspectors had to all withdraw from Iraq,
because the United $tates told Richard
Butler it was about to attack Iraq. When
Butler withdrew, he did not even tell his
boss--the UN Security Council--and
thus Russia, France, China and England
had no chance to stop the United $tates
from ruining the weapons inspections
process again. After the second time and
U.$. bombing of Iraq, the UN weapons
inspectors did not return. Richard Butler
temporarily covered up for the United
$tates by making up some lame excuses
for why the inspections had failed. Russia
and China exposed Butler to the whole
world in the UN Security Council in 1998
as U.$. bombing was going on. By his
own admission, when the United $tates
attacked, Butler was 6 to 8 weeks away
from completing all inspections and
certifying Iraq free of weapons of mass
destruction.
A US intelligence officer admitted in
February 2002 that the U.$. strategy was
"not to take yes for an answer" from
Iraq.(p. 61) Finally in April, 2002, Bush
and Blair held a press conference in the
open where they said "regime change"
was their goal. In such a circumstance, it
is useful for the imperialists to pretend
the weapons inspections failed when they
did. They can then justify "regime
change."
As we go to press, it's been over a week
of war, but the U.S. Government failed
to meet one of its stated objectives.
Planners had said they would have 48
hours to get Saddam Hussein before his
deployments of weapons of mass
destruction took place.(p. 161)
2. Myth: France stabbed the United
$tates in the back.
Fact: Going back several years, France
voted to enforce the existing UN
resolutions consistently, along with Russia
and China and occasionally England. The
French vote against war is consistent with
its earlier stances, the United Nations
charter and the relevant UN resolutions
on Iraq.
The United $tates did not want to allow
Iraq to resume oil exports or allow
weapons inspections to succeed, so there
was no way for the United $tates to vote
along with the other members of the
Security Council. Those members of the
Security Council wanted the original UN
resolution enforced but were unable to
enforce it, because the United $tates and
England had veto power. It is now a
matter of public record that the United
$tates all along had another agenda
besides enforcing UN resolutions.
3. Myth: Democrats would not have
carried out this war.
Facts: Bill Clinton was the one in charge
when the United $tates intentionally
sabotaged UN resolutions on Iraq
including Paragraph 22 of Resolution 687.
He also carried out military operation
"Desert Fox" against Iraq and attempted
a coup against Saddam Hussein by using
weapons inspectors for purposes other
than those declared by the UN. The
"Desert Fox" bombing in December, 1998
was against international law even
according to a one-time British Minister
of "Defence," Lord Healey.(p. 145)
Clinton's bombing of Iraq ended UN
weapons inspections until just before the
2003 war. As Colin Powell correctly
stated, the goal of "regime change" really
started under Clinton: "`We have had a
policy of regime change, which really has
been there all along but was crystallized
by President Clinton in 1998 at the time
of Desert Fox."(p. 75)
Under Clinton, there was also the 23
Tomahawk cruise missiles launched
against Iraq for a faked bomb plot against
Bush Sr. in 1993.(p. 132)
4. Myth: The Labour Party's soul
is against the war, so Blair cannot win
a vote by using democratic methods.
Facts: A March 2002 survey showed
that Labour Party supporters had higher
percentages in favor of war than either
the Conservatives or the Liberal-
Democrats. Labour and Conservatives
were essentially equal in their support of
the war.(p. 167)
Milan Rai said in 2002, "hence Mr.
Blair's decision not to put the invasion of
Iraq to a vote of the House of Commons.
The Prime Minister is determined to
launch what US hawks call a `war for
democracy' in Iraq by undemocratic
methods."(p. 7)
In 2003, we see that Milan Rai was
wrong: Blair did hold a vote and he won
it despite a defection of a minority of his
party. If the Labour Party were so
concerned, it could have removed Blair
in 2002, never mind 2003. True, the
Labour Party felt that this issue deserved
more discussion than any other issue in
recent decades, but in the end, it voiced
some qualms but went along with the
prime minister and Bush.
Milan Rai correctly pointed out that
Blair had a self-interest in making more
ridiculous claims than Bush did, because
Blair had more of a public opinion poll
gap to make up.(p. 118) All along, Blair
correctly perceived which way the public
would go. Once at war, 54% of the public
swung around to support him, up from
36%.(1) Blair had said about previous
polls in April 2002: "`It's hardly surprising
frankly if people are concerned about
military action at this present time because
we are not suggesting it at this present
time.'"(p. 165)
The reason for all this is that the peace
movement has too many bourgeois
democratic prejudices to be able to
understand the true nature of the power
struggle going on. That is why Blair won
it. Even if England eventually retreats
under repeated blows, the fact remains
that the English peace movement was too
weak to stop Blair's throwing the dice,
and taking a chance with the whole
world's survival.
On the question of "democracy," the
more relevant problem than fools who do
not understand electoral politics as well
as Blair does was the Conservative
Minister justifying support for the war by
"secret intelligence reports."(p. 119)
Justifying a war with "secret intelligence
reports" is fine in a monarchy or fascism,
but in "democracy" the citizenry is
supposed to be informed.
5. Myth: Colin Powell is a moderate
without influence in the Bush
administration.
Facts: Powell won the strategic battle
against Perle, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz.
The United $tates went to the United
Nations and feigned interest in weapons
inspections one last time before
unleashing war in 2003. More crucially,
contrary to New York Times propaganda
attempting to protect and manipulate
Powell through his putative future
electoral base as a presidential candidate,
the basic military strategy in Iraq was
Powell's.
The "cakewalk" faction of
reactionaries so reactionary that they are
"radical" favored using Amerikkkan air
power to back an invasion of Iraqi exiles.
They believed that the Iraqis would greet
them with "flowers and song" while
throwing rice to their "liberators." The
"radicals" of the Bush administration
Rai and Chomsky give `ten reasons against war on Iraq'
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MIM Notes 282 · May 15, 2003 · Page 5
believe that Amerikkka is so loved and
Saddam Hussein so hated that toppling
Saddam Hussein would be like toppling
the Taliban despite the fact that everyone
knew Saddam Hussein has several
divisions of regular troops and equipment
that the Taliban did not.
Ironically, Milan Rai shares the
assumptions of the Pentagon
"revolutionaries." He said the revolt of
the people to be liberated should have been
supported at the end of the first Gulf War
and the whole Republican Guard
annihilated when U.$. forces had the
chance.(p. 86) Some of the press
predictions about targets of the war that
said the United $tates would not attack
the Republican Guard in Gulf War II (p.
95) have proved wrong as we write this.
In contrast with the Pentagon
"revolutionaries" today, Powell argued for
use of overwhelming force (250,000
troops) and no reliance on "half-assed"
people with schemes about Iraqi exiles.
Even a compromise position of 80,000
troops fell to the wayside, so complete
was Powell's victory in the Bush
administration. 250,000 troops ended up
going and more may be on the way as
we write this.
An article in the New York Times
called on Powell to resign and another
New York Times article incorrectly
concluded Powell did not get what he
wanted on Iraq strategy, but Powell
replied that Gallup polls show he is still
popular for the job he is doing. Powell
himself answered the New York Times
on March 26, 2003: "`Personally, I'm very
much in sync with the president and he
values my services,' Powell told National
Public Radio."(2)
6. Myth: Nothing else works but
military force.
Facts: Nothing else has failed but
military force. All through history, the
United $tates has used the same means
it is using now and that has not stopped
terrorism, war and economic disaster.
The CIA created Saddam Hussein and
Osama Bin Laden and now we hear idiots
globally calling for the same means to be
used to rid the world of Saddam Hussein
and Osama Bin Laden, who themselves
were only the means of destroying
previous enemies.
The same reactionaries who said
Saddam Hussein was so evil and assured
us that he has chemical, biological and
nuclear weapons are now counting on
Saddam Hussein's good intentions not to
start a five or six digit slaughter of
Amerikkkans and possibly I$raelis. It
looks like something other than military
force is involved, because the United
$tates did not kill Saddam Hussein within
the first 48 hours as planned.
Saddam Hussein got his start with the
CIA by assassinating a "communist"
relative and providing lists of
"communists" to the CIA.(p. 97) Now
when something goes wrong with
Saddam Hussein the same reactionaries
are saying to use the same methods as in
the past. Once again the CIA is in there,
with Special Forces. Once again, the
United $tates is trying to make some deal
with the Kurds inside Iraqi borders, but
in 1963, the CIA supported the Kurds and
then spit them out. It delivered weapons
to Turkey and Iran to crush the Kurds.
(That's how Saddam Hussein's party
came to power in the first place. Junior
Saddam Hussein only climbed the ranks
with more of the same and won especial
favor from U.$. masters for his war in
the 1980s with Iran.)
Likewise, in 1991, Bush Sr. called for a
revolt of the people against Saddam
Hussein. The Amerikkkans allowed the
revolt to be crushed by Saddam Hussein.
In particular, they refused to let one Iraqi
rebel batallion have its weapons to fight
Saddam Hussein. Saddam Hussein
promptly slaughtered the rebel batallion,
once again with U.$. assistance.
We are told repeatedly thanks to a
computer programming glitch lasting more
than a week at www.abcnews.com that
the FBI is rounding up Saddam Hussein
supporters in the u$A. When will the FBI
start arresting the CIA? When will Bush
Sr. be put in the clink?
This should teach all Third World and
former-Soviet bloc people that solidarity
against U.$. imperialism has to come first
and foremost before everything else. The
U.$. uses its friends and then spits them
out. Ask Manuel Noriega or Saddam
Hussein.
What the peace movement in the
imperialist countries should learn from all
this is that the government is not serious
about ending terrorism. The only
beneficiaries of this continuous CIA/
military action are the arms dealers and
manufacturers. Give the weapons to one
side and then the other--make profits off
both.
People globally should also learn that
the United $tates will assume ANY guise
to get a job done. In the past and now the
CIA is posing as the most militant
communists in order to avoid being
detected. In order to install a king and
overthrow parliamentary democracy in
Iran in 1950s, the CIA organized a mob
of "communists," so that the military could
find a justification for seizing power in
August, 1953.(p. 100) We have to learn
when communists are getting things done
and support them, even if we cannot be
sure who they are exactly.
We of the peace movement have the
radical idea that we can actually PAY for
gasoline and thereby get along with
people, expand trade and create global
prosperity. We also see no reason to trust
our government officials to weapons
manufacturers and dealers willing to bribe
anybody for a short-run profit. Our means
to prosperity may not be as obvious as
selling weapons to opposing sides of a war,
but we believe the communist plan of
peace and prosperity is much more sound
for the long-run.
Noam Chomsky
In contrast with some other more
wilting writing of his recently, MIM
appreciates the chapter in this book. In
concrete form, Chomsky expresses
internationalism.
Chomsky points out that Bush is a
criminal even on bourgeois legal grounds.
Ironically, now that there are Amerikan
POWs held by Iraq, Rumsfeld is all
rhetoric about Iraq's respecting the
Geneva Conventions on war crimes, but
before the war started, Chomsky was
already criticizing the United $tates for
undermining the Geneva Conventions in
the Middle East. Even Bush Sr. as a
diplomat in 1971 admitted that I$rael was
violating the Geneva Conventions.
Despite this and numerous UN
resolutions, the United $tates never
enforced the relevant resolutions. "As
High Contracting Parties, the US and the
European powers are obligated by solemn
treaty to apprehend and prosecute those
responsible for such crimes, including their
own leadership when they are parties to
them. By continuing to reject that duty,
they are enhancing t