UN vote provides cover for U.S. war against Iraq

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mittee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador, Mobilization for Survival, U.S. Student Association, Student Action Union, Pledge of Resistance, MADRE, Fund for New Priorities, Socialist Action, Socialist Workers Party, and Workers World Party.

Counterposed dates debated

The conference debated counterposed motions for demonstrating on either Jan. 19 or Jan. 26. The motion for the 19th was backed by supporters of the New York-based Coalition to Stop U.S. Intervention in the Middle East. A week or two prior to the Dec. 1 conference, this coalition unilaterally called for Jan. 19 marches in Washington, D.C., and San Francisco.

The Jan. 19 date was rejected in part for fear it would conflict with planned actions the same weekend celebrating the birthdate of Martin Luther King and also because most campuses would not be in session.

The conference decision to back the Jan. 26 date was a conscious effort to have the broadest possible initial call for one unified action, rather than a call issued by only one wing of the new movement.

After considerable debate, the proposal for unified action was adopted with only a small handful opposing. Gabriella Gemma, of the Coalition to Stop U.S. Intervention in the Middle East, indicated that she would take the decision of the Dec. 1 meeting back to her coalition for consideration.

The conference considered other demands for the demonstration and rejected them, in(continued on page 14)

What an irony. On the same day that 34 countries signed the Charter of Paris that supposedly ends an "era of confrontation and division" in Europe and the world, President George Bush pressed those same countries to back Washington's war preparations in the Persian Gulf against the Iraqi and Arab people.

"Success here [Paris]," Bush said, "can be neither profound nor enduring if the rule of law is shamelessly disregarded elsewhere."

Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev agreed: "We're ready to show patience in the quest for a political solution." But, he added, the Soviet Union is ready to support a U.S.sponsored United Nations resolution backing military actions against Iraq if it becomes necessary.

And that is just what happened. On Nov. 29, the UN Security Council, in a 12-2 vote (with 1 abstention), voted to authorize the use of military force against Iraq it Iraqi troops do not withdraw from Kuwait by Jan. 15. This vote gave Washington the UN cover it had pressed hard to obtain in its war against Iraq.

Only Cuba and Yemen voted against the U.S.-sponsored resolution; China abstained. The day after the UN vote, Bush announced that he would dispatch Secretary of State James Baker to discuss—-not "negotiate, Baker insisted—with Saddam Hussein.

Despite the media hype portraying Baker's efforts as a quest for a "peaceful solution, by year's end the U.S.-led force will number over 500,000 men and women who will be poised to attack Iraq when Bush gives the signal.

End of Cold War?

The "hot" situation in the Middle East puts a lie to the Charter of Paris signed Nov. 21 by Gorbachev and Bush and their allies. There can be no peace in the world as long as there is oppression and exploitation.

After the signing of the Charter of Paris for a New Europe, President Bush said, 'The cold war is over. In signing the Charter of Paris we have closed a chapter of history."

The charter promises that the 34 signers will pledge a "steadfast commitment to democracy based on human rights and fundamental freedoms, prosperity through economic liberty and social justice, and equal security for all countries."

What are these "fundamental freedoms"? They include a concept of democracy practiced in the capitalist countries, including the right "to own property ... and to exercise individual enterprise."

"We stress that economic cooperation based on market economy," the document continues, "constitutes an essential element of our relations and will be instrumental in the construction of a prosperous and united Europe.... We reaffirm the need to continue to support democratic countries in transition towards the establishment of market economy and creation of the basis for self-sustained economic and social growth."

Collapse of Stalinist regimes By the "end of the Cold War" Bush means that the market economy (i.e., capitalism) has won out over socialism (the planned economy). Yet this is a false presentation of what is occurring today around the world.

What is happening in Eastern Europe and (continued on page 14)