U.S. out of Iraq! Washington fosters sectarian divisions

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VOL. 32, NO. 7, JULY 2014 WWW.SOCIALISTACTION.ORG U.S. / CANADA $1 The current conflict in Iraq gathered momen­ tum with seemingly amazing speed as an armed coalition of secular and religious Sunni groups, spearheaded by the Islamic State (IS, formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, an al-Qaeda splinter grouping), wrested about a third of the country from government control. Islamic State has proclaimed the for­ mation of an independent caliphate, crossing the border into IS-held territory in eastern Syr­ ia, although this action has strained relations with some of its Sunni allies.

The Sunni gains have produced a profound setback for the neo-colonial efforts of the Unit­ ed States, which occupied Iraq for eight years, imposed a puppet government, and helped pro­ pel the corrupt and murderous Nouri al-Maliki government into power.

Maliki has accused Saudi Arabia and Qatar of funding IS. This is not at all clear, especially since in recent months both countries—with the encouragement and participation of U.S. op­ eratives—have supplied armaments to selected Islamic rebel groups in Syria in order to fight IS. However, some of the funds that wealthy pri­ vate sources, if not governments, have donated to rebels fighting the Assad dictatorship in Syr­ ia have reportedly filtered through to IS.

At the same time, Iraq’s Shiite-based mili­ tias—such as the Mahdi Army, led by clerical firebrand Moqtada al-Sadr, and which the U.S. tried for years to stamp out—have been revived with a promise of bringing “terror to ISIS and al-Qaeda.” This has created a “perfect storm” in which two retrograde forces, both flush with funds and supplies furnished by U.S. imperialism and its allies, are embroiled in a showdown that threatens the stability of the entire region.

In the long run, Syria and even Jordan face dismem­ berment along with Iraq, as Sunni, Shiites, Kurds, and other ethnic groupings fight for territory and power. The spectrum of client states that the colonial powers first carved out of the oil-rich Middle East following World War I, and the artificial borders that they erect­ ed, are now threatened with disintegration.

The current military stand off in Iraq has brought to the forefront the long-sought cause of independence for the Kurdish minority in the north of the country. As the Kurdish semi-autonomous government pon­ ders whether to secede from Iraq, it has sent some 40,000 Peshmerga soldiers to counter the incursion of IS onto its borders. The Kurdish militia has taken over the disputed city of Kirkuk, a center of the oil industry and a candidate for the capital of a future Kurdish state.

Turkey, although still wary of granting self-determi­ nation to Kurds inside its own borders, now consid­ ers the Kurds in Iraq as a buffer and as allies in the fight against IS. However, the Turkish government has stated that it is resolutely opposed to outright independence for Kurds in Iraq. Israel, on the other hand, has expressed itself favorable to an indepen­ dent Kurdistan, perceiving it as a method to weaken and draw valuable oil resources away from its Arab opponents. The U.S., for its part, while it has long pro­ tected the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of Iraq, seems more hesitant right now toward outright inde­ pendence—although that stance is apt to change as pressures mount in the region.

At the same time, Iran and the United States have seen a partial convergence of their objectives in Iraq. Both countries are offering direct military aid to Iraq’s government, although top Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei insists that he opposes U.S. intervention into the country. In trying to explain U.S. interest in pursuing some sort of collaboration with the reviled Iranian government—which it has been punishing with sanctions—Republican Senator Lindsay Graham manufactured an analogy with alleged U.S. policies during World War II: “Why did we deal with Stalin? Because he’s not as bad as Hitler.”

The tremendous military firepower that the U.S. has given the Shiite-dominated Maliki regime (sending more than a billion dollars’ worth of equipment ev­ ery year) has been interpreted by some as showing favoritism to Shiite forces over those of the Sunni— thus deepening ethnic tensions in Iraq. In the recent period, however, the Obama administration has been perturbed by Maliki’s close relations with Iran and has stepped back from offering explicit political sup­ port to his government.

With the current Sunni upsurge, Obama has escalat­ ed his criticisms of Maliki, accusing him of “political opportunism” and of sowing “mistrust and sectarian UN News Centre (Above) Woman and children who fled Mosul seen at refugee camp in Iraqi Kurdestan.

divisions.” On June 20, Obama gave a populist-sound­ ing rationale for Washington’s caution toward Maliki’s government: “There’s no doubt that there has been a suspicion for quite some time now amongst Sunnis that they have no access to using the political pro­ cess to deal with their grievances, and that is in part the reason why a better-armed and larger number of Iraqi security forces melted away when an extremist group, ISIS, started rolling through the western por­ tions of Iraq.”

Since then, the U.S. has been more and more insis­ tent that Maliki step down from office as a step to­ ward cobbling together a “more inclusive” coalition government. The powerful Shiite cleric, Grand Aya­ tollah Ali Sistani, and Middle Eastern leaders such as Saudi Arabian King Abdullah, have added their voices in calling for the selection of an Iraqi government that is acceptable to all major political blocs.

Yet, despite the wariness that Washington has dis­ played toward the Maliki regime, Obama has made it clear that at this point the U.S. is willing to help defend the Baghdad government by military means. The U.S. recently delivered a large shipment of laser-guided Hellfire missiles, and is sending up to 300 “advisors” in order to “train” the Iraqi army—as well as increas­ (continued on page 8, in “Teamsters victory in Minneapolis”)

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lowed rent hikes of 4.9% in 2012.

He cited the Oregon Center for Public Policy report that says a two-parent, one-child family in Portland needs to earn $63,978 per year to have a basic level of economic security. If both parents work full-time at minimum-wage jobs without taking any time off, they will still be $26,000 shy of that basic level. However, as Norton-Kertson told the council, with a $15 minimum wage, that family will earn close to $63,000, bringing them right up to the cusp of eco­ nomic security.

Oregon’s minimum-wage law preempts local gov­ ernments, with some exceptions, from creating their own minimum wages. Among those exceptions are jobs in and through city government. Norton-Kertson called on the council to “raise the minimum wage for all city workers to $15 per hour” and “require that all contractors working with the city pay their employ­ ees a $15 minimum wage.”

While none of the City Council members would commit to this proposal they all did agree that they are against the preemption law. Portland Mayor Charlie Hales stated, “We don’t like preemptions in general, and we don’t like this one either.” They agreed to lobby the state to get rid of the preemption law, but made no commitment to raise city workers’ pay.

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