Iraq War intensifies as U.S.-Maliki government declares ‘victory’
2009Jeff Mackler 2009-07Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 1 →
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VOL. 29, NO. 6, JULY 2009 WWW.SOCIALISTACTION.ORG U.S. / CANADA $1 Maya Alleruzzo / AP Sure enough, the Iraq War is over! At least, that’s the word from the corporate media. Eighty-five percent of U.S. bases and “outposts” in Iraq were slated to be closed as of June 30, according to U.S. military officials. U.S. forces were said to be withdrawing from Iraq’s cities, “under cover of night,” reported The New York Times.
In Orwellian double-speak, the U.S. puppet government of Nuri Kamal al-Maliki has declared a “great victory” comparable to the 1920 Iraqi rebellion against British troops, a “repulsion of foreign occupiers” no less! The cynical June 26 Times “news” article could not help but observe that “the Americans are going along with it, symbolically and substantively.”
Maliki, desperate to demonstrate his independence from U.S. imperialism, declared June 30 a national holiday. He ordered U.S. troops to disappear, like “invisible genies,” according to Ali al-Adeep, a top leader of Maliki’s Dawa Party, but only for a few days!
Meanwhile, bomb attacks killed many civilians, mainly Shiites. Hundreds were killed in late June; many more were wounded. Some residents of Sadr City charged that the Iraqi government had aided the bombings, though Sunni communities, American military, and Iraqi security forces also suffered losses.
Undoubtedly, and without Maliki’s permission, Shiite militants will respond with the formation of their own militias. Few believe that the U.S.-trained and backed security forces have the capacity to quell either the mass hatred of the still present U.S. occupation forces or the internecine and U.S.-fueled rivalries among Iraqi groups.
U.S. helicopters continue to pockmark the Iraqi skies, operating out of U.S. bases in Baghdad and elsewhere. They and their bases have been excluded from the “withdrawal” agreements by virtue of a re-drafting of Brant Ward / SF Chronicle (Left) U.S. troops conduct joint operation with Iraqi police in the streets of Mosul, June 8.
(Right) Afghanis in Fremont, Calif., protest against killing of civilians in U.S. strikes on Afghanistan.
the city’s borders and in recognition that the presence of a U.S.-led rapid and deadly military response was absolutely essential.
Some 130,000 U.S. combat troops remain in Iraq, reclassified as non-combatants and trainers, though armed to the teeth. They have been momentarily removed from public view but remain entrenched in massively fortified and armed bases and airfields replete with the most modern weapons of mass destruction. They will remain in Iraq as long as necessary to assure the exploitation of the nation’s resources and otherwise serve U.S. interests in the region.
Maliki insists, “We will not ask [the U.S.] to intervene in combat operations related to maintaining public order.” But “public order,” a term implying a police operation, is (continued on page 8, in “Solidarity with the Iranian people! U.S. hands off Iran!”)
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All out July 10-12 for Pittsburgh National Antiwar Conference!
Layoffs at General Motors See page 3