Stop the U.S. war against Iraq! Demonstrate on Jan. 26! Bring the Troops Home Now! FOR OIL

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of the Vietnam War, for comparison, 1300 sorties were flown in a two-week period according to an NBC News report.

Bush's goal is the leveling of Iraqi and Kuwaiti "military" targets as soon as possible, hoping for the surrender of President Saddam Hussein. This assault, including carpet bombing by B-52 aircraft, will mean the loss of tens of thousands of Arab lives as well as U.S. soldiers.

In a cynical statement launching this horrifying war for the "liberation of Kuwait," Bush said the United States will accept nothing less than Iraq's total defeat. "We have no choice but to force Saddam from Kuwait by force. We will not fail," Bush said. "Our objectives are clear," he said. "Saddam Hussein's forces will leave Kuwait, the legitimate government of Kuwait will be restored to its rightful place and Kuwait will once again be free."

In addition to the 1800 war planes, the United States has six aircraft carriers and 425,000 American soldiers poised to strike Iraq on the ground. There are also 265,000 allied troops and aircraft under U.S. command.

As of Jan. 17 ground troops have not been used in the war. The Pentagon is seeking total air superiority first.

Several U.S.-led aircraft have been shot down by Iraqi defenses. Scores of Iraqi civilians have been killed by the terror bombing.

Iraq's President Saddam Hussein says the Iraqi people will never surrender. Iraqi defenses have struck back, including firing missiles into Saudi Arabia, where the invading forces are stationed. At least 8 to 10 scud missiles have been fired into Tel Aviv, Haifa, and other areas of Israel.

According to press reports, the Israeli military initiated an air assault against Iraq in retaliation for the missile attack, but its aircraft were immediately called back after Secretary of States James Baker insisted in a emergency phone call with Israel's Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir that all retaliation should be left to the United States. Baker was clearly anxious that the United States' "coalition" with the reactionary Arab regimes not come apart should Israel enter the war.

Despite the massive air attacks, the Iraqi people appear to be standing firm in defense of their country. Support for Iraq from Palestinians and other Arabs also seems to be growing.

Bush's criminal actions have won wide support from Democrats and Republicans in Congress, who voted a week before the invasion to back his war drive against Iraq. On VOL. 9, NO. 1 JANUA Joseph Ryan/Socialist Action Jan. 17, the U.S. Senate adopted a resolution without opposition to support Bush's war. All the major Western powers are backing Bush. The French National Assembly voted to place its troops under U.S. command. News report indicate that the French government plans to ban all antiwar protests during the war.

The Soviet Union is also 100 percent behind Bush's war.

But the Arab people, excepting their traitor rulers, and hundreds of thousands of other people around the world, are protesting the invasion of Iraq. The protests in fact have been the most massive and widespread in the United States since the height of the Vietnam War.

No matter the military outcome, politics in the United States and the world, espécially the Arab world, will never be the same. War is easier to start than to end. History will condemn Washington for its actions.

RY 1991 50 C ENTS chanted, "Keep the march peaceful." Only a small number of marchers went off at the end of the night to carry out civil disobedience around the city.

In New York City, on Jan. 16, students at Columbia University initiated a march down Broadway. By the time the march reached 96th St., thousands of bystanders had joined in. At the UN building, some 10,000 people heard Leslie Cagan of the National Campaign for Peace in the Middle East and Gabriella Gemma of the Coalition Against U.S. Intervention in the Middle East urge support for the Jan. 19 and Jan. 26 antiwar demonstrations.

On Jan. 17, over 5000 protested the U.S. carpet-bombing of Iraq at a mid-day demonstration in limes square.

Overseas, more than 100,000 demonstrators marched throughout Germany on Jan. 17. Many participated in blockades in front of the entrances to U.S. bases there. An angry antiwar march in Milan drew 25,000, and 1000 marched in a torchlight parade through Oslo, Norway.

News reports also indicate that tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets in Paris on Jan. 17, despite the French "socialist" government's decision to ban all antiwar demonstrations.

Outrage precedes invasion

The Jan. 16-17 protests came on the heels of massive demonstrations in opposition to Washington's war threats against Iraq.

Thirty thousand marched in Seattle on Jan. 13 and 13,000 in Portland, Ore., on Jan. 12—the largest demonstrations ever in those cities.

In Minneapolis, a Jan. 13 indoor rally at the University of Minnesota's Northrup Auditorium drew an overflow crowd of more than 10,000 people in support of the demand: "Stop the war before it starts!" Over $1000 were raised in button sales to send (continued on page 7, in “Sio° the War Before Itstarts”)

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the Gulf War and to stop it stop See page 14

Jan. 16 in San Francisco, Calif. Over the streets as news of U.S. attack hit

S. Africa: ANC debates strategy, See p. 16