People Before Profit blog

Bush Iraq policy seen as failure

Fri, 29 Aug 2003 03:37:00 +0000

Following the devastating bombing of the United Nations office in Baghdad, talk is increasingly turning to the failure of the Bush administration’s unilateralist Iraq policies and its “war on terrorism.”

’s cover this week asked, “So what’s Plan B?” with a subhead adding, “Washington’s Plan A in Iraq isn’t working.” The article, by international editor and prominent establishment foreign policy analyst Fareed Zakaria, offers a stark listing of the failures of the U.S. occupation, calling it an “enterprise undertaken with little planning and extreme arrogance.” Says Zakaria, “It is time to recognize that the occupation of Iraq needs fixing.” CNN featured a similar critique, titled “Lessons from the rubble.”

A new Newsweek poll finds Americans are increasingly pessimistic about the U.S. role in Iraq, saying the U.S. should reduce its involvement there. And, for the first time since the question was initially asked last fall, more registered voters said they would not like to see Bush re-elected than those who favored his re-election (49 versus 44 percent).

The number of U.S. soldiers who have died in Iraq since May 1, when President Bush declared the end of major combat, has now surpassed the number of U.S. deaths in the “active” war, which began on March 19.

Approximately 285 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq since the war started. Around 150 have died since May 1, according to Pentagon spokespersons.

“The repetition of deaths every couple of days is starting to hit home,” Republican consultant Scott Reed told reporters.

“For President Bush, suddenly every option in Iraq looks bad,” was the lead of political analyst Ronald Brownstein’s Aug. 25 Washington Outlook column. The headline read, “No path in Iraq is risk-free for [the U.S.] mission or Bush’s presidency.”

After the bombing of the UN office, the Bush administration met strong resistance at the UN to its efforts to push through a new Security Council resolution to get other countries to send troops under U.S. control. This week, administration officials said they may not seek such a resolution after all. “We have not yet made a determination,” Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said Monday.

William Luers, president of the United Nations Association of the USA and a former U.S. diplomat, told Inter-Press Service, “I do not see how other large nations will agree to participate until there is a transfer of complete authority away from the United States and to a combination of Iraqis and the United Nations to give legitimacy to the process.”

An Arab diplomat told IPS, “We don’t want to send our troops to be under the protection of a U.S. military umbrella.” Japan and Thailand said last week they would probably cancel plans to send troops.

Philip Gordon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, writing in the Aug. 20, said the Bush administration’s refusal to allow the UN any real authority and its failure to win international support is “a mistake that will cost the United States in dollars, lives and reputation.”

In the wake of the attack on the UN headquarters in Iraq, the U.S. is facing increasing pressure to improve security quickly. Under the Geneva Conventions, the U.S. as the acknowledged occupying power, is responsible for ensuring the safety of the occupied population and humanitarian workers.

The International Committee of the Red Cross is cutting back its work in Iraq, saying it is concerned that the U.S. cannot ensure its security. Another humanitarian organization, Oxfam, has also withdrawn all international staff from Iraq because of the poor security situation. Even the British Embassy in Baghdad was evacuated because of the threat of an attack.

In the international community and among progressive and peace activists discussion is increasingly directed toward finding a realistic solution to the crisis precipitated by the U.S. war and occupation.

There is general agreement that an interim international authority has to replace the U.S. occupation, and control must be handed over to the Iraqi people.

“There is no easy answer,” Middle East Research and Information Project executive director Chris Toensing told the . The UN role is complicated by the fact that some Iraqis associate it with the decade of punitive sanctions imposed at the insistence of the U.S.,” he said. Peace Action executive director Kevin Martin told the it is not sufficient to simply say, “Bring the troops home now.” The U.S. must withdraw and be replaced by a regional or international peacekeeping entity, he said.

Events are confirming daily that the U.S. war was “outrageous, illegal, immoral,” Martin said. “We need a new foreign policy, in a new direction.”

The author can be reached at

Israeli, Palestinian groups respond to deepening crisis

Fri, 29 Aug 2003 02:25:00 +0000

Gush Shalom, an Israeli peace group, has issued a statement charging the Israeli government is responsible for the new round of violence in Israel and the West Bank and Gaza. The group said, “The renewed cycle of bloodshed has begun with the decision of the Israeli political and military echelons to implement – in the middle of the Hudna (cease-fire) – a series of ‘targeted liquidations,’ knowing full well that that act would lead to retaliation bombings and to the breaking of the Hudna.”

Gush Shalom also said last week’s bus bombing in West Jerusalem and those responsible were in areas under Israeli control, Nablus and Hebron. The statement continued, “In none of these places does the Palestinian Authority exercise any measure of real control, and its police has no ability to operate there. The real, immediate solution is to remove the Israeli Defense Forces from the Palestinian territories and hand over full control to the Palestinian Authority, as was laid out in the Road Map.”

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights in its weekly report also condemned the escalation of violence that threatens to end negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority that had been in progress since a cease-fire at the end of June. The PCHR documented continuing human rights abuses due to the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

The PCHR report said, “Since Aug. 20, Israeli occupying forces have escalated their illegal military actions in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs), following an Israeli government decision taken in the aftermath of the bombing that occurred in West Jerusalem on Aug.19.”

The most recent Israeli military actions were initiated a few hours after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defense Minster Shaul Mofaz decided to escalate military operations against Palestinians, including a continuation of the policy of assassinations, a policy which had been halted since the conclusion of a security understanding between the Israeli and Palestinian sides.

The PCHR statement said, “Israeli forces have also imposed a total siege on the OPTs, raided Palestinian houses and arrested more Palestinians.”

PCHR human rights workers report that the Israeli army continued to shell Palestinian residential areas in the Gaza Strip, especially in Rafah and Khan Yunis. A number of houses were damaged and widespread fear of attacks persisted among Palestinian civilians, especially children. The report said, “Such tactics represent the use of a system of terror inflicted on the general population of the OPTs by Israeli authorities.”

The PCHR report also says, “In violation of international humanitarian law, especially the Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, Article 33, which prohibits punishing any protected person for ‘an offense he or she has not personally committed,’ Israeli forces took retaliatory measures against the families of Palestinians, Israel alleges have ordered, facilitated, or carried out attacks against Israeli targets by destroying three Palestinian houses in Nablus.”

Though the Israeli army has been using military action to respond to bus bombing, it is also interfering in the right of Palestinians to earn a living. The PCRH report says, “Israeli occupying forces have restricted the access of Palestinian fishermen to the sea, and Palestinian workers continue to face humiliating measures at ‘Erez’ (Beit Hanoun) crossing in the northern Gaza Strip on their way to work in Israel. Israeli occupying forces have continued to restrict the passage of goods through commercial crossings of the Gaza Strip. The Rafah terminal, on the border with Egypt, has recently witnessed a growing humanitarian crisis.”

In the West Bank, Israeli occupying forces have maintained a strict siege on Palestinian communities. They have restricted movement of Palestinians at military checkpoints, despite Israeli claims that a number of military checkpoints were dismantled. They re-closed a number of roads and erected dozens of roadblocks. On Aug. 20, after Israeli occupying forces had allowed dozens of Palestinian civilians to cross Israeli military checkpoints erected at entrances of Palestinian towns and villages, they closed these checkpoints and prevented the civilians who had crossed the checkpoints from returning to their homes.

The Gush Shalom report is available at www.gush-shalom.org and the PCHR report at www.pchrgaza.org

International Notes

Fri, 29 Aug 2003 02:22:00 +0000

Cuba: Trade pacts signed with Alabama

The State of Alabama signed three trade agreements in Havana last week. On Aug. 21, Ron Sparks, the state’s commissioner for agriculture and industry, and Pedro Alvarez, president of the Cuban enterprise ALIMPORT, signed documents committing Cuba to buy $10 million worth of agricultural goods, including poultry and dairy products. Cuba had previously imported only about $500,000 worth of foodstuffs from Alabama.

Sparks said the pacts could mark the start of a long-term relationship, and promised to work for an end to the sanctions currently obstructing trade and understanding between the two nations. The U.S. delegation presented its Cuban counterparts with a statement affirming that the visit was useful in identifying a wide range of trade opportunities in both directions.

Iraq: Int’l union federation condemns attack on UN

In a message of condolences to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) expressed its horror at last week’s vicious attack on the UN’s Baghdad offices, which cost the lives of over 20 people including UN Special Representative Sergio Vieira de Mello. “This attack was aimed directly at the United Nations and its staff, whose role in reconstruction and democracy-building in Iraq is indispensable,” said ICFTU General Secretary Guy Ryder. He added, “The international trade union movement unreservedly condemns this appalling atrocity and calls for those responsible to be brought to justice as quickly as possible.” The ICFTU commended the work of de Mello and his UN colleagues, and stressed the need for maintaining and extending the UN’s involvement in Iraq.

Liberia: UN says humanitarian crisis continues

Amid hopes that Liberia’s new peace process heralds the end of the bitter 14 year war, the United Nations warned last week that the true extent of the country’s humanitarian crisis is only starting to emerge as aid agencies start traveling outside the devastated capital, Monrovia.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said Monrovia’s streets are crowded with people returning to their hometowns from refugee camps. Thousands more still live in churches, schools, sports facilities and other emergency camps. The water and electricity systems are still not functioning. Relief agencies continue to provide small amounts of food and water to those in the camps. Though malnutrition and malaria are among key health concerns, WHO said the cholera outbreak is the most pressing concern.

Meanwhile, the UN is organizing joint assessment missions into other parts of the country.

Canada: Union says privatized power caused blackout

In an Aug. 22 statement, the Canadian Union of Public Employees blamed privatization and deregulation for the huge power blackout that affected the U.S. and Canada earlier this month.

“Failed market schemes and too much entanglement with the U.S. electric system have brought Ontarians the result long predicted by CUPE and other opponents of for-profit, deregulated power – inadequate electricity supply, widespread power blackouts, danger to health and property, and serious economic problems,” the union said.

CUPE called for rebuilding the public power system “that once was Ontario’s pride,” and declared that “It’s time to end ideological experiments with a resource and service as vital as electricity.” The union further warned against plans for a new electricity “common market” in the northeastern U.S. and Ontario.

Czech Republic: New political crisis looms

The attempt by the Social Democrat-led “left-right” coalition government with the center-right Christian Democrats and right-wing Freedom Union-Democratic Union (FU-DU) to reform public finances has already led to trade union protests and one Social Democrat member of the Chamber of Deputies quitting the party’s parliamentary group. This means the government coalition has effectively lost its one-vote majority in the legislature. It also renders hollow the government’s success in pushing through the first reading of a package of 11 bills on July 24. The bills all aim to slash public spending, despite record unemployment expected to pass 10 percent by year’s end.

A late June poll showed embarrassingly low support for all three coalition parties, with the Social Democrats at 15.5 percent, the Christian Democrats at 8.5 percent, and the FU-DU at 3 percent. By contrast, the right-wing opposition Civic Democrats held first place with 28.5 percent, and the Communist Party polled 11.5 percent.

When the 11 bills come up for second reading next month, the Czech Communists are urging the Social Democrats to uphold the progressive program on which they won the 2002 parliamentary elections, and not give further ground to the right wing.

International Notes are compiled by Marilyn Bechtel (cpusainternat@mindspring.com). Ken Biggs contributed to this week’s notes.

International notes

Fri, 22 Aug 2003 05:57:00 +0000

Swaziland: Protesters demand democracy

Swazi demonstrators and their South African supporters wound up four days of protests for democracy and human rights Aug. 15 with a joint rally at the Oshoek border post between the two countries. The demonstrations coincided with the Global 2003 Smart Partnership International Dialogue Summit held in the Swazi capital, Mbabane. Protesters said the conference should not have been held in Swaziland while the government of King Mswati III attacks and jails peaceful advocates for democracy.

On Aug. 13, security forces attacked demonstrators using tear gas and batons. Police dragged suspected demonstrators out of stores, and beat bystanders and people who tried to aid injured protesters.

Demonstrations in Swaziland, organized by a broad coalition of labor, peoples’ and youth organizations, received solidarity from many South African organizations including the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party.

Liberia: Security needed for relief supplies

Ross Mountain, new United Nations special humanitarian coordinator for Liberia, said Aug. 17 that his top priority is to achieve better security so humanitarian agencies can bring food, safe drinking water and medical care urgently needed after years of civil war.

Speaking shortly before a peace accord was signed Aug. 18 by the government and two rebel groups, Mountain said he was encouraged by progress in the talks, but warned that “the situation on the ground is still very volatile and on the humanitarian front there are certainly no grounds for complacency.” He said it will be a huge challenge to get thousands of former child soldiers back into school and normal life.

The UN Integrated Regional Information Networks reported that two ships carrying rice and fuel are due in Monrovia this week, but unloading and distribution of food will be hampered by looting and damage to port facilities during the fighting.

Argentina: No pardon for repression

After long and intense debate, Argentina’s Chamber of Deputies voted Aug. 13 to annul the laws of pardon protecting hundreds of soldiers and police agents responsible for the murder and disappearance of some 30,000 people in the 1970s and 1980s. Next week the Senate must endorse or revoke the deputies’ decision. The Cuban news agency Granma International said Senate endorsement of the action would be a major step toward bringing the perpetrators of repression to trial.

Jose Maria Diaz, head of the governing Justalicia Party, called the decision “historic,” and said it responds to the wishes of recently elected President Nestor Kirchner. “This is part of the serious image that the president is trying to give to resolve cases of this kind within a legal framework and to create a path of justice,” said Alberto Fernandez, head of the Cabinet.

Haiti: Reparations campaign makes progress

A joint commission of officials from various government ministries said last week they have massive documentation backing Haiti’s claim against the French government for restitution of 90 million gold francs paid in 1825 in exchange for France’s recognition of the country’s independence. The sum, currently worth over $21 billion, took nearly a century to pay.

To date, France has responded by placing Haiti on a list of “undesirable” countries not to be visited.

Commission member and Justice Minister Calixte Delatour called on all Haitians to join the campaign for restitution, the Haitian Press Agency AHP reported. Delatour also urged President Bertrand Aristide to make the teaching of the history of slavery mandatory in all Haitian schools.

In 1804, after years of bitter, bloody struggle, Haiti broke the power of the brutal French plantation slaveholders, and won independence from France. Big celebrations are planned for next year’s bicentennial.

China: Job creation takes center stage

China is working to create eight million jobs this year to help ease rising unemployment, and is emphasizing reemployment of laid-off workers. President Hu Jintao told a national symposium last week that despite significant progress, China will continue to face a relatively grave employment situation for a long time. Hu also noted that China has favorable conditions for job creation, including sustained rapid economic growth, improvement in restructuring sectors of the economy, and the development of a number of pro-employment policies.

Hu urged special attention to developing labor intensive industries, ensuring social security for laid-off workers, improved job training and job-finding services. This year 24 million Chinese are looking for jobs. China’s labor departments have set up some 18,000 employment agencies which helped nearly 10 million jobless people find employment last year. The agencies’ services are free of charge.

International Notes are compiled by Marilyn Bechtel, |international secretary of the Communist Party USA. She can be reached at cpusainternat@mindspring.com

Soldier Sal is safe so far

Fri, 15 Aug 2003 05:35:00 +0000

Sal, a young Texas soldier in Iraq, writes to let us know that he is OK.

Hi Jim,

Just a letter to let everyone know I am OK. Nothing bad happened. Before I left on the convoy, though, a guy in my battalion was shot and killed. I had to watch his body get put on a plane and go to his memorial service right before I left, so, needless to say, I was a bit worried.

To answer everyone wanting to know when I will be leaving Iraq, I was told to be prepared to stay till next March. This doesn’t mean I will be staying till then, just to be prepared. Well … keep your fingers crossed.

Things are back to normal here. I think they stopped firing mortars at us. Which is a good thing because I have to be on a guard tower for eight hours! They had an awards ceremony and our colonel gave a speech. Very patriotic.

He said we are here because some bad men flew an airplane into the twin towers. He said there was a direct link between the Iraqi government and these same fellows. He said that we’ve crashed into the camps and captured the bad folks. Very inspiring.

He also gave his support to Bush. I am sure you can imagine some of the things that were going through my mind.

In solidarity, Sal of the Sand

International notes

Fri, 15 Aug 2003 04:57:00 +0000

Iraq: Protest of fuel & power shortages

Protests continued early this week in Basra, the country’s largest city, and the surrounding area against prolonged shortages of electricity and gasoline that are making life miserable in the 125-degree summer heat. Several demonstrators were reported killed and others wounded in clashes with British occupation forces.

“We have no fuel, no water, no electricity for days. Children are dying in hospitals,” a shopkeeper in a nearby village told journalists. “Tell the British to give us benzine, and then we will turn in our guns.”

“In the beginning we were happy,” said a local businessman. “We opened our windows to freedom as the Americans and the British asked us. But now we have nothing, not even our basic necessities. If nothing changes, we are ready to make a lot of chaos.”

The protests marked some of the greatest unrest in this area since British forces took over in the area last April.

South Africa: Gov’t to provide AIDS drugs

South Africa’s Cabinet announced Aug. 8 that the government will make antiretroviral drugs available at public hospitals to those who need them. The Cabinet said it was accepting recommendations by the Joint Health and Treasury Task Team, and was giving Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang until the end of next month to prepare a detailed plan to provide the drugs. The Cabinet said it “shares the impatience of many” about the need to strengthen the struggle against the disease.

The Task Team said introducing antiretroviral therapy would have a significant impact on the number of AIDS deaths in the coming decade, deferring 1.7 million deaths until after 2010.

Among those welcoming the announcement were former President Nelson Mandela and the Nelson Mandela Foundation, which had criticized the government delay in providing the drugs.

South Korea: Hyundai workers win wage hike

Hyundai workers are voting this week on a proposed new contract including an 8.6 percent wage hike – far greater than the country’s 3.1 percent inflation rate. At talks last weekend, Hyundai also agreed to a shorter workweek and other benefits including worker involvement in management decisions concerning job security.

Hyundai workers have been on strike since June, with heavy costs to the company in lost output. The 40,000-member union had earlier called for an 11 percent wage increase and representation at company board meetings.

Dominican Republic: Police raid transport union office

Police raided the office of the National Union of Unified Transport Workers Aug. 6, opening fire on those inside to prevent them from carrying out a protest in Santo Domingo later that afternoon, Amnesty International said last week. At least three unionists were reported injured, and up to six others detained by police.

The trade unionists were organizing an alternative version of the march that opened the 14th Pan American Games in Santo Domingo Aug. 1. The alternative march, titled “Torch against Hunger,” was organized in the context of months of repeated protests around the country against increases in the cost of living and government economic measures to meet IMF requirements.

Amnesty International called for a full, impartial investigation and urged the government to publicly recommit to international standards for use of force by law enforcement officials.

India: Anger grows over strike ban

Popular outrage is growing over the Indian Supreme Court decision Aug. 6 barring strikes by government employees because they disrupt the economy.

The decision followed last month’s strike by over a million teachers and other public workers in Tamil Nadu state to protest pension cuts. Some 176,000 workers were dismissed afterwards. Nearly 6,000 still remain off the job and face legal action.

Swadesh Debroy, national secretary of the Center for Indian Trade Unions, called the ruling “a dangerous and cruel attack on our right to strike,” while nearly 20,000 members of the All-India Trade Union Congress in Tamil Nadu fasted Aug. 9 in protest.

The Communist Party of India called the decision “a judicial assault on the democratic rights of workers and employees who have won these rights ... through more than 100 years of sacrifices and bitter struggles,” while the Communist Party of India (Marxist) warned that it has “serious implications for the fundamental rights of the working people.”

The ILO pledged to help the Tamil Nadu workers.

International notes are complied by Marilyn Bechtel (cpusainternat@mindspring.com).

Bushs Senegal visit uncensored

Fri, 15 Aug 2003 04:51:00 +0000

The following is an abridged e-mail sent by a Senegalese woman and health activist to friends. It gives an uncensored view of George W. Bush’s Africa visit.

DAKAR, Senegal – [Bush’s] visit has been such an ordeal that a petition is being circulated for July 8 to be named “Dependency Day.” Let me share with you what we have been through:

• more than 1,500 persons have been arrested and put in jail

• The U.S. Army’s planes fly day and night over Dakar. The noise they make is so loud one hardly sleeps at night.

• About 700 security people from the U.S. [arrived] in Senegal, with their dogs and cars. Senegalese security forces were not allowed to come near the U.S. president. All trees [in Bush’s path], some more than 100 years old, were cut.

• All roads going downtown (where hospitals, businesses, schools are located) were closed. This means we could not go to [work or classes]. Sick people were also obliged to stay at home.

Bush’s visit to the Goree Island is another story. As you may know, Goree is a small island facing Dakar, where from the 15th to the 19th centuries, the African slaves, to be shipped to America, were parked in special houses. One house is a museum to remind humanity about this dark period. Kings, queens and presidents have visited there, including Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton, Nelson Mandela and the Pope, without bothering the islanders. But this time, the local population was chased out of their houses from 5 to 12 a.m. They were forced by American security to leave everything open to be searched by special dogs brought from the U.S.

Only Bush spoke when he was in Goree, [not our president]. It seems he needs the vote of African Americans to be elected. That’s why he visited Goree.

Other humiliating things happened. [Bush] did not want to use our things. He brought his own armchairs, cars, meals and drinks. He came with his own journalists and ours were forbidden to go [near him].

Several protest marches were organized. We have the feeling everything has been done to convince us that we are nothing, and America can behave the way it wants everywhere, even in our country.

Believe me it is a terrible feeling. But according to a Ugandan friend, I should not complain because in Uganda, Bush did not go out of the airport. He received the Ugandan president in the airport lounge.

Nevertheless, I think I am lucky, because I have such wonderful American friends. But there are thousands of Senegalese who believe all Americans think the world is their territory.

What is going on in Iraq today? An Iraqi view

Thu, 07 Aug 2003 10:35:00 +0000

Raid Fahmi is a member of the Central Committee of the Iraqi Communist Party (ICP). He represented the ICP at the International Meeting of Communist and Workers’ Parties in Athens, Greece, June 19-20, 2003. The ICP is one of the 25 Iraqi representatives on the Iraqi Governing Council. The following is an abridged interview conducted with Fahmi on June 21 by John Bachtell for the People’s Weekly World and Political Affairs. To read or listen to the full interview go to www.cpusa.org

Q. Give us a sense of what’s happening in Iraq today.

A. It’s been two months since the regime fell. People are still facing basic problems. This is related to the war but also to the fall of the regime, which resulted in the fall of the Iraqi state. Iraqis face big problems with security and economic paralysis. Sixty percent of the people are unemployed; services have only been partially restored.

Politically, there is a very big disillusionment even among forces who worked closely with the Americans and who greeted the occupation. After two months there has been a delay in the political process. The UN resolution declared the U.S. and Britain as forces of occupation. This was really a big shock for many, even those who were allied with the Americans. Decisions have been made without any consultation with Iraqis.

The U.S. fundamentally changed its approach. [U.S. overseer L. Paul] Bremer decided to create an interim government. The Iraqis were expecting a provisional Iraqi government that would prepare for the transfer of power and a new constitution, etc. Now we have an interim power, which is run by the occupying force. They will designate an Iraqi council that will essentially only have an advisory role.

Another thing aggravated this problem. Bremer decided to dissolve the Iraqi army in a brutal way. They are taking 400,000 people and telling them to go back home and are giving them a few dollars for their services. This has created enormous discontent among a very wide section of the Iraqi army. They could have been given another means of subsistence. The same shock treatment has happened with the dissolution of several administrative departments and ministries. With all this and the sidelining of the Iraqis from the decision-making process, the level of discontent is rising.

Q. The American people were under the impression the U.S. troops were welcomed as liberators. Now two months later many soldiers are being killed. It looks like a quagmire. Tell us more about the attitude toward the occupying powers.

A. At first when the regime fell there was some relief among the Iraqi people. We were getting rid of this nightmare after 30 years. But as the problems remain and the occupying forces become more provocative, a lot of misgivings have been created.

This must be seen in the context of the existence of remnants of the Iraqi regime. The Baath Party had a million members. Of course many were forced to be members. Many who had important responsibilities, for example in the army, are still there.

Now they have started to foment discontent and defend their own interests. Operations are being carried out against the Americans. The response of the occupiers is creating discontent among people who don’t share the objectives of those who are carrying out the attacks. This is creating a climate of tension.

The forces that will benefit are the Islamic fundamentalist forces and remnants of the Hussein regime. This will have a bad effect for all the democratic forces that are working for an alternative – a broad national conference in which all political forces participate, and an authority that is legitimate in the eyes of the Iraqi people.

Q. How does the Party see ending the occupation? What role do you see for the UN? What form will the struggle take?

A. We are for a speedy end to the occupation and the creation of an Iraqi provisional government. It should arrange for the transfer of power from the occupying power and prepare the withdrawal of the troops. Of course if the Americans don’t respond, each party could resort to other forms of struggle.

At the moment, we think that political forms are the most appropriate. And I think that all the major political forces that don’t share the American view of things are for political forms of action to end the occupation.

We believe the UN should be involved, first to ensure a solution to the humanitarian problem but also politically. The UN could help facilitate the transition to a legitimate Iraqi democratic power. The UN could help ensure security and the economic reconstruction and all major decisions regarding the use of Iraqi national resources.

Who will decide if the Iraqi oil should be privatized or not? Or what contracts awarded to which corporations? In the absence of a true Iraqi authority, decisions about the economic structure of the country should not be taken without the UN.

Q. A major justification for war was the existence of weapons of mass destruction, which haven’t been found. So Bush is saying, “Well, at least we liberated the Iraqis.” The ICP opposed both the regime and the war as a means of liberation.

A. We were against the war. We said there were alternative means to pressure the Hussein regime, in accordance with international legalities. There was UN Resolution 688, the recommendations of the Human Rights Commission, etc. They could have imposed some very fundamental concessions on the regime without resorting to this war.

We were told war is the only way, and that political pressure would be ineffective. Our reply was, let’s use it first, let’s use all these possibilities that exist. Let’s start by exercising pressure not only for the WMDs (and we always said this wasn’t such a big issue), but pressure for democracy and human rights. We could have mobilized the Iraqi people and used all the opportunities provided by the UN resolutions.

Unfortunately this was not done. Not because it was not effective. The war was indispensable for the U.S. for objectives that go far beyond our country. Iraq was the first step in reshaping the political and strategic situation in the entire Middle East. And this requires the military presence of the U.S.

Q. Do you think the state of chaos is welcomed by the Bush administration? Does it help in their objectives?

A. We remember what Rumsfeld said: “This is freedom, such things happen.” That was looking cruelly at what was happening.

If you relate the end result of this collapse – the chaos and destruction and the collapse of the Iraqi state – to the American objective that Iraq should be a “free economic country,” etc., then it seems this chaos plays a positive role from the American point of view. With the collapse of the Iraqi state it is easier to create the new state in accordance with this vision. Is all this absolutely arbitrary? It may not have been deliberate, but they probably said, ‘Why not?’ since it would facilitate the objectives for what is designed for Iraq in strategic terms.

We believe Iraq is undergoing a fundamental restructuring and the cost to the Iraqi people will be enormous.

Q. What other forces are you working with? What is the role of the Islamic movements, including the fundamentalists?

A. When we describe the Iraqi political scene, we describe it first in terms of political currents. There is an Arab nationalist current, and a Kurdish nationalist current.

The basic expression of the Kurdish nationalist current are the two Kurdish national parties, the Kurdish Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, with of course the Communist Party of Kurdistan.

In talking about the Arab nationalist current, there was the official one represented by the dictatorship, which repressed the other forms of Iraqi nationalist currents. Other smaller political forces also represent the nationalist current.

We have the democratic current, in which the ICP is considered one of the major parties. In addition to that there are a large number of small parties who emerged after 1990, some of them organized around individual personalities and intellectuals.

And there is the Islamic current represented by a number of political parties. They also suffered repression and their leadership was exiled. The major parties are the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution and the DAWA party, but there are others.

During this period there was another Islamic movement inside the country with contacts abroad. Because of the very ferocious repression of the regime they evolved distinctively from the movements abroad. They resorted to means that combined clandestine and legal forms and used all the mosques and the religious structures that existed to spread their influence, and to create a network of opposition to the regime.

After the collapse of the regime this movement was the first to hit the ground and organize demonstrations. Some of these movements have a fundamentalist approach, and they tried to impose politics not shared by the official Islamic movement abroad.

Over the past 20 years the people, under repression and with the absence of perspective and hope, turned toward Islamic faith. There was a general tendency of people toward religion. But that doesn’t automatically mean they are for fundamentalism.

Q. The ICP’s newspaper, Tareeq Al-Shaab, was the first to hit the streets. This got a lot of attention in the U.S. media. What’s been happening in the first few months with the Party?

A. The ICP has been in total opposition to the Hussein regime since the end of the ’70s. And over the ’80s we waged a struggle against the regime using multiple forms. We suffered in a very brutal way from the repression. We had many martyrs. Many people disappeared, and we don’t know what happened to them even now. After the regime fell we recovered from the regime’s security offices lists of hundreds of Communists who were executed. In the ’90s the Party reconstituted itself in Iraqi Kurdistan and after the Gulf War in 1991 the Party worked publicly there. We had our own headquarters, publications, several radio stations and a television station. Our newspaper is in Arabic and the Kurdistan CP, which is part of the Iraqi CP, participates in the local government there.

We had an underground structure that was working in Baghdad and southern Iraq. So when the regime collapsed, the Party was able to be on the ground very rapidly. Because we are already publishing our paper in Kurdistan, we could rapidly get it to Baghdad. We are now starting radio broadcasts from Baghdad.

Our party is now 70 years old. It is the oldest party in Iraq, with oldest tradition, with the oldest major political role. So all this makes us an important political force. Everyone, friends and enemies, recognize this.

In many areas former Communists and sympathizers have taken initiative to create party offices even before the Party got there. In Baghdad, where the first Party office opened, we had people coming from the rest of Iraq – peasants, workers, and all sections of Iraqi society. It is an extremely busy place. Some people who are not Communists come because they want to know who are the Communists. So there is a friendly attitude.

The Iraqi Party is considered by people, even those who don’t share our program, as an important force for balance and diversity of the political scene and as a countervailing force against fundamentalism.

Immediately after 1990 and after the collapse of the Soviet Union, our party was among the first to study the experience and draw conclusions about what went wrong, and what remains valid in actual life. At our Fifth Conference in 1993 we started a process of democratization and renovation.

The main conclusion is that we consider democracy the fundamental element in all social and political transformation. We believe we cannot transform society if the basic beneficiary of this transformation is not involved.

We call for a national democratic program under our slogan, “Democracy for Iraq, a united federal Iraq.” And we believe federalism will solve the Kurdish question. The Kurdish people will be able to exercise their national rights and aspirations in a way that maintains Iraqi unity on a democratic basis.

We are very much at ease with all issues related to democratic and human rights, and enforcing them with legal structures. We consider ourselves consistent advocates of this perspective. We are ready to work with all other forces in this respect. The future Iraqi government should be independent and democratic, and draw its legitimacy from the Iraqi people through an electoral process.

John Bachtell, a member of the Communist Party’s national board and its Illinois district organizer, represented the CPUSA in Athens. He can be reached at jbachtell@rednet.org

Venezuelas revolution improves economy

Thu, 07 Aug 2003 10:08:00 +0000

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is an advocate for the poor and working people, enjoying the votes of over half of his countrymen and women in every election. This infuriates the wealthy and powerful in Caracas and Washington, D.C., as does his friendship with Cuban President Fidel Castro.

In one of the most remarkable events of the new millennium, Chavez supporters among the poor, the working classes and the military overturned a carefully planned and internationally-supported counterrevolution. Within 48 hours, Chavez was returned to power in April 2002.

But the counterrevolutionaries were not through. The Venezuelan upper classes, along with some corrupt elements of the labor movement, closed businesses in a lockout/strike, including in the decisively important oil industry. They were convinced that the masses, largely darker skinned people of African and Indigenous origin, were incapable of organizing and sustaining economic life. (Chavez himself is dark skinned.)

This lockout/strike, they announced, would force Chavez’s resignation.

While nominally state-owned, PDVSA – the state oil monopoly – was a nest of corruption and privilege. Earnings in 2001 were $52.1 billion, but transfers to the government were only $11 billion. Despite a crippling two-month period of belligerence and sabotage, cheerfully and generously encouraged by the wealthiest capitalist countries, Chavez and the Venezuelan people held firm against this rising.

Today the “Bolivarian Revolution” stands stronger than ever, serving as a beacon to the leftist trends in Brazil, Argentina and Ecuador and as a bulwark against the maneuvers of U.S. imperialism and reaction in Colombia. Still, the full truth and meaning of this victory have not been widely exposed. Most writers accept the dire prediction that the strike has permanently wrecked the Venezuelan economy. The reality is vastly different.

Since the lockout/strike ended, oil production has been restored to the same or nearly-the-same levels as before the work stoppage. In a heroic effort requiring dedication and political understanding, the Venezuelan oil workers, with just over half of the pre-lockout/strike work force, fought to restore full production. By late April, Standard and Poor’s had raised Venezuela’s rating from poor to stable. Other capitalist institutions, Credit Suisse First Boston and Merrill Lynch followed suit, raising Venezuela’s debt status, though you would not know this from hysterical press accounts of economic disaster.

As the economy stabilizes and begins to grow again, the Chavez government has imposed foreign currency controls to impede the withdrawal of dollars from the economy, a tactic widely used to destabilize leftist governments. As a result of this restriction and the reorganization of the state-run oil company, Venezuela has over $15 billion in foreign currency reserves. Based on these impressive results, the UN’s World Economic and Social Report projects a healthy growth in the Venezuelan economy of 8.5 percent in 2004.

Rather than relying upon the business classes, which attempted to strangle the revolution, the Chavistas are using the currency reserves to import goods, like meats from Paraguay, and offer them at subsidized prices to the poor and working class. In March alone, public spending rose 74 percent against the same month in 2002.

Through an exchange program, Cuban professionals are addressing the medical and educational needs of the people. Much land has been redistributed and the government has encouraged cooperatives.

Chavez has masterfully included the military in these revolutionary initiatives. Newspaper accounts have reported officers liberating hoards of goods purposely held back from the market to disrupt the economy.

Early in July, the revolutionary government imposed a mandatory 10 percent wage increase for nearly three million Venezuelan workers. Another 20 percent increase will go into effect in October. This has brought a violent outcry from Venezuela’s elites. In response to employers who have threatened to lay off workers in the face of the wage increases, President Chavez has extended a freeze on layoffs through the end of the year.

While the people of Venezuela are continuing their march towards social justice, the enemies of this revolution will fight desperately and ruthlessly, no doubt welcoming any provocation that will draw the attention of their powerful northern neighbor, the U.S. The opposition is currently seeking a referendum to overturn the electoral process that strengthened Chavez’s mandate. The establishment press professes a fear of economic collapse, but their real fear is the successes of the Bolivarian program. Many correctly see the struggle in Venezuela as a fight for self-determination and democracy. But it is also a victory against counterrevolution and economic blackmail, unleashing a profound social revolution in this impoverished country.

Some will see parallels with the early stages of the Cuban revolution, where upper class intransigence and foreign intervention spurred the strengthening and deepening of people’s power. And like that struggle, the Venezuelan revolution’s success will require the support and solidarity of honest people everywhere.

The author can be reached at ggodels@earthlink.net

International notes

Thu, 07 Aug 2003 09:53:00 +0000

Japan: Anti-nuke meet opens

Hundreds of delegates from Japan and 23 other countries along with international and regional organizations gathered in Hiroshima for the Aug. 3 opening of the annual World Conference Against A and H Bombs. Messages from leaders of six countries, including Malaysia, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Sweden, were read at the opening session.

The conference, sponsored by the Japan Council Against A and H Bombs, opened on the eve of the anniversary of the Aug. 6, 1945, U.S. atomic bombing of the city, which killed 140,000 by the end of that year and condemned many more to deadly radiation sickness. Participants heard reports on the serious aftermath of the bombing, and calls for universal nuclear disarmament.

The conference will reconvene in Nagasaki on Aug. 7, before the Aug. 9 anniversary of the U.S. bombing of that city.

Liberia: Emergency food airlifted

The UN World Food Program (WFP) has started emergency food flights into the capital, Monrovia, where hundreds of thousands of people are desperate since fighting intensified in mid-July, the WFP said Aug. 3.

The first shipment – half a ton of high energy biscuits providing an emergency ration to about 4,000 people – arrived Aug. 2 from Sierra Leone, and will be followed soon by another 11.5 tons. The biscuits will go to about 100,000 of the city’s most vulnerable residents, including thousands living in temporary camps near the airport.

Earlier, WFP had stocked over 10,000 metric tons of food in Monrovia, but the agency can’t access its stocks since rebels attacked the capital for a third time in mid-July.

WFP is urging the warring parties to agree to a secure humanitarian corridor across the front line so relief supplies can start moving immediately. In a related development, the first contingent of a west African peacekeeping force, 675 soldiers from Nigeria, arrived in Liberia this week.

Britain: Unions shift to left

In 2003, militant left-wing leaderships have been elected in the unions of railway workers (RMT), public services including health workers (UNISON), manufacturing workers (AMICUS), local government employees (GMB) and the big transport and general workers union TGWU, as well as the traindrivers (ASLEF), the journalists and civil service employees unions.

The annual general meetings of these, the biggest of British unions, have been strongly against the right-wing policies of the Blair government and have voted for the left line against privatization of public services, against the Iraq war, and against Blair’s concessions to big business while not defending workers’ rights.

Though some have cut their contributions to the Labor Party, the general position is to fight to regain the party from the Blair clique, which captured control about seven years ago.

Afghanistan: Union-busters help draft laws

Phillip Jennings, head of Union Network International, this week called on the International Labor Organization to explain how a union-busting law firm was handed a key role in drafting Afghanistan’s post-Taliban labor laws. He urged the ILO to make sure a similar situation does not occur in Iraq.

Workers Online News said the openly anti-union firm, Dechert, has supplied one of the lead lawyers to the Afghanistan Transitional Commercial Law Project, initiated by the Center for International Management Education and the American Bar Association.

Australian Labor Party spokesperson Robert McClelland warned that Afghanistan and potentially Iraq could end up with labor laws containing no effective right to organize and bargain collectively. “Such rights have always been essential to enable working people to raise and maintain their living standards at dignified levels,” he said.

China & Russia: Urge ban on space arms

At the UN-sponsored Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, China and Russia last week called for a quick start to talks for a treaty banning weapons in outer space. Supporters, including many European and nearly all developing countries, say it is vital that the 1967 treaty banning weapons of mass destruction in outer space not be undermined.

The risk of the weaponization of space is escalating. Since the U.S. withdrew last year from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, no reliable legal agreement bars countries from using outer space for military purposes. The Bush administration’s emphasis on developing space weapons has alarmed countries and organizations around the world.

France: Anti-globalization activist released

Some 200 supporters cheered Jose Bove, French farmer and outspoken critic of free trade and genetically modified (GM) food, as he left prison Aug. 2 after serving one month of a 10-month sentence. Bove, arrested in a dramatic June 22 dawn raid for damaging GM crops, was freed when prosecutors failed to appeal a judge’s decision that he could live at home and work on a nearby farm, which has promised to employ him.

Bove’s arrest was protested by opposition parties, including the Communists, Socialists and Greens. He leads the radical Confederation Paysanne.

International Notes are compiled by Marilyn Bechtel, international secretary of the Communist Party USA. She can be reached at cpusainternat@mindspring.com. William L. Pomeroy contributed to this week’s Notes.

Israel builds two anti-Palestinian walls

Thu, 07 Aug 2003 09:44:00 +0000

TEL AVIV – How many invulnerable and invincible “defense walls” have been constructed during history? “High-security walls,” propagated as a guarantor of protection against an enemy onslaught, have all proven to be vulnerable and penetrable.

And so the same will be true with the present Israeli “Security Fence.” It is a mile-wide system, featuring a concrete and iron wall that is 26 feet high and 10 feet thick, with watchtowers and electronic warning equipment stretching for hundreds of miles, as well as barbed-wire surrounding roads on both sides. It is designed to separate Israel and Palestine, yet the wall invades various parts of occupied Palestine.

Israel, unilaterally and without asking the Palestinian authorities, went ahead with this monstrosity. No section is situated on or near the pre-1967 demarcation “green line.” Several sections of that atrocious edifice are many miles eastwards of the border, as well as around Greater Jerusalem and large Jewish settlements. It cuts through Palestinian villages, olive and citrus plantations, separating families from their ancestral fields and plantations, their only source of life-sustaining income.

While promising it would keep suicide bombers out of Israel, many know the only real security for Israel is to withdraw from the Palestinian territories behind the pre-1967 demarcation lines, the internationally recognized borders of Israel. Plus, evacuate all the 150 or so illegal Jewish settlements, as well as mutually honoring the vested national rights and territorial integrity of both peoples.

The construction of this wall costs many billions of dollars. To finance it, the Ariel Sharon government with Treasurer Benjamin Netanyahu are robbing the bread from thousands of Israeli children by drastically cutting all social budgets affecting old-age pensioners, the unemployed, single parents (whose ranks at the protest tent encampment in Jerusalem are still swelling) and by cutting salaries of civil servants.

Even the big boss of the capitalist world, Sharon’s bosom friend and main sponsor of the terrorist Israeli establishment, U.S. President Bush, has criticized the wall for hitting the Palestinians and their economy too hard.

Sharon’s answer was “the defense of Israel and its means are the sole affair of the Israeli government and no one, no one, can interfere with its decisions.” Period.

By the way, Sharon knows very well that even Israeli legislation does not allow constructing fences and walls around private property, or on land belonging to one’s neighbor.

One thing is sure: the grand profits for erecting this fence are going into the bank accounts of the big contractor corporations. Maybe George W. Bush is offended that those profit-grabbing contractors are all Israeli and not his American corporate friends.

Then there is another wall being built, not with iron and barbed wire, but with racism and human rights violations. Such is the nature of an amendment to the citizenship law passed July 31 with a vote of 53-25 in the Knesset. The amendment prohibits a spouse from living in Israel if he or she comes from the occupied territories. Even already married couples have to live either separated, or move to the occupied Palestinian areas. The new law affects, in the main, Israeli Arabs.

The Minister of (in)Justice Josef Lapid said Palestinian spouses originally from “the territories” might become involved in anti-Israeli activities. But Knesset Deputy Speaker Mohammad Barakei stated frankly the racist nature of the legislation. He said, during the debate, that people “who have suffered so much in history from racism should be ashamed to motion and vote for legislating such an amendment bill!”

Knesset Member Ahmad Tibi stated that the bill outlawing mixed marriages between Israeli citizens and Palestinian residents of occupied Palestine is “an inhuman act, reminding some abhorrent criminal laws of the past.”

Knesset Member Yossi Sareed said this new legislation is un-Jewish and warned that the adoption would spark a wave of protests in the international arena and might possibly encourage a new anti-Semitic outburst.

Many human rights groups have petitioned the Supreme Court of Justice to place an injunction against this amendment to the citizenship law. This amendment contradicts the constitutional “Basic Law of Human Dignity and Equal Citizen Rights,” the petitioners stressed.

The author can be reached at pww@pww.org

U.S. schools and shelters to receive Cuban aid

Fri, 01 Aug 2003 04:19:00 +0000

The 14th U.S.-Cuba Friendshipment caravan, organized by IFCO/Pastors for Peace, after successfully delivering 80 tons of humanitarian aid to Cuban schools, churches, hospitals, and senior centers last week, returned to the United States via Mexico on July 29, carrying products manufactured in Cuba to be delivered to communities throughout the U.S. The caravan is delivering the Cuban-made aid as a challenge to the U.S. blockade, which prohibits normal trade between the U.S. and Cuba.

The aid includes a solar-panel for a middle school in Buffalo, and coffee, honey and bee pollen products for a homeless shelter in Wisconsin. These donations are a gift from the people of Cuba to the people of the United States, as a symbol of good will and friendship.

The 14th U.S.-Cuba Friendshipment caravan also challenged the travel blockade that the U.S. imposes on its citizens that wish to travel to Cuba. More than 100 caravan participants traveled to Cuba without seeking a U.S. Treasury Department license. They were joined in this challenge by the over 80 members of this year’s Venceremos Brigade delegation, which will return to the U.S. on Aug. 4, walking over the Peace Bridge to Buffalo, N.Y. Venceremos is calling on people to meet and welcome the delegates at 7:30 a.m.

Since 1992, IFCO/Pastors for Peace has delivered more than 2,250 tons of urgently needed assistance to the Cuban people without seeking a U.S. Treasury license.

Millions celebrate Cuban revolution

Fri, 01 Aug 2003 04:15:00 +0000

Millions of Cubans celebrated the 50th anniversary of the start of the Cuban Revolution with carnivals, dancing, street festivals, parades, meetings and rallies. July 26 is the anniversary of the attack on the Moncada Barracks, which sparked the revolution.

In Santiago, at the site of the Moncada barracks, Cuban President Fidel Castro spoke of the social problems that affected Cuba 50 years ago and led to his organizing and leading the rebellion. He said that in 1953, there were 600,000 unemployed Cubans while another “400,000 farm workers labored only four months a year and were hungry the rest of the year ... More than half of the best lands were in foreign hands.” In 1953, only 22.3 percent of the population was literate, the Cuban president recalled.

Immediately after the triumph of the Revolution, the government recruited and sent people into all parts of this Caribbean country to teach people to read and write in the most massive educational campaign of its type in history.

Citing figures on health, education, jobs, and other areas, the Cuban president contrasted Cuban life 50 years ago and today. Today, “85 percent of the population owns their own homes. They pay no taxes. The remaining 15 percent pay a small rent, which is merely symbolic.” He said the gains of the Cuban Revolution shows that the revolutionaries’ “program has been fulfilled and over-fulfilled. For a while, we have been following higher and unimaginable dreams.”

Even though the attack on the Moncada barracks was not successful and Castro and the other rebels were captured, Cubans regard the attack as the start of the Cuban Revolution, which culminated in the revolutionaries driving out the dictatorial regime of Fulgencio Batista on January 1, 1959. The rebels who did not die in the battle were captured, tried and sent to prison.

Castro recalled his defense speech during his trial. In the speech, which ends with the prophetic statement, “History will absolve me,” he said, “The future of the nation and the solutions to its problems cannot go on depending on the egotistical interests of a dozen financiers.” He said he considered this to be the most important part of his defense. That speech was secretly printed and distributed throughout the country while Castro was in jail.

Reflecting on the current struggle to sustain the Cuban revolution, Castro criticized the action of Cuba’s biggest trading partner – the European Union (EU) – for reducing “to the minimum, what they call ‘humanitarian aid’ to Cuba.” The EU took a number of measures against the socialist country after the Cuban courts found a number of “dissidents” guilty of treason. The “dissidents” received funding through the U.S. Interest Section in Havana to actively oppose the Cuban government.

Castro said that neither the Cuban government nor its people would accept being pressured. “Cuba, a small country, besieged and blockaded, has not only been able to survive, but to help other countries of the Third World, which have been exploited by colonizing European countries.”

He said the European governments were working more in the interest of the U.S. than of Europe. “Neither Europe nor the U.S. will have the final word on the fate of humanity,” he said while calling on the EU to act in a way which is not “arrogant.”

Supporters of the Cuban Revolution and of normalized relations with Cuba held activities celebrating the Moncada anniversary throughout Europe, the U.S., as well as in Latin America and the rest of the world.

The author can be reached at j.a.cruz@comcast.net

International notes

Fri, 01 Aug 2003 04:11:00 +0000

Greece: Lawyers accuse British before ICC

The Athens Bar Association charged British Prime Minister Tony Blair and other British ministers with crimes against humanity, in a case filed July 28 with the International Criminal Court at the Hague.

The Greek lawyers urged the ICC to investigate 22 alleged incidents involving British forces in the war. “The repeated, blatant violations by the United States and Britain of the stipulations of the four 1949 Geneva conventions, the 1954 convention of the Hague as well as the charter of the International Criminal court, constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity,” they said in a 47-page complaint.

George Bush was not charged, nor incidents involving U.S. forces cited, because Washington has not ratified the treaty establishing the ICC.

Burma: Unocal sued over forced labor

A Los Angeles superior court judge is expected to rule favorably this week that a lawsuit by 12 Burmese citizens against Unocal can proceed under California law.

The plaintiffs say that starting in the 1990s, Burma’s military dictatorship used forced labor and its soldiers used murder and rape to coerce them to clear the way for the Yadana Project, a pipeline for Unocal and Total. They charge Unocal benefited from the Burmese government’s actions even if it did not endorse them.

The action is being brought under the 1789 Alien Tort Claims Act, the scope of which is in dispute. The suit is backed by human rights groups including the Center for Constitutional Rights, while the Justice Department has intervened to support Unocal, claiming the case could adversely affect the U.S. “war on terrorism.”

Total is subject to separate actions in Europe.

Argentina: Military officers to stand trial

At least 40 retired Argentine military officers, now held in Argentina on human rights charges stemming from the 1976-83 military rule, can be tried abroad, President Nestor Kirschner ruled July 25. A federal judge in Buenos Aires had earlier ordered 46 former government officials detained after the Spanish government asked for their extradition.

The two decisions reversed previous measures barring Argentine officials from extradition to a foreign country on criminal charges.

Kirschner, elected two months ago, also seeks to overturn amnesty provisions dating from the late 1980s that have prevented prosecution in Argentina of those accused in the deaths of more than 30,000 people during the military dictatorship. An opinion poll last week showed nearly two-thirds of Argentines in favor of ending the amnesty.

Vietnam: Haiphong development plan unveiled

Under a plan confirmed last month, the port city of Haiphong is to be developed into a major marine, industrial and commercial city, and adjacent areas are to be built up as tourist attractions.

The plan was originally projected at the Vietnam Communist Party’s Ninth Congress in 2001. Haiphong is to use its closeness to Hanoi and its shipping links to the rest of the country and the world to become a key component in the economic development of Vietnam. The production and commercial effectiveness of state-owned enterprises will be increased, and industrial zones and small to medium industry made more productive. Cat Ba and Cat Hai islands, together with Ha Long Bay, are to be developed as international tourist centers.

S. Africa: Miners win wage hike

The first mining industry strike in 16 years was called off at the last minute July 27, when mine owners agreed to raise wages by 10 percent and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) agreed to compromise on non-wage issues.

Workers will receive a basic salary increase of 10 percent this year and a raise next year, which matches the change in consumer inflation plus one percentage point, with a 7 percent minimum, the Johannesburg Business Daily reported. Mine operators have agreed to study and complete the process of reclassifying machine operators by the end of the year.

NUM General Secretary Gwede Mantashe and union President Crosby Moni said most of the union’s 100,000 members at the affected mines had voted to accept the owners’ revised offer.

International notes are compiled by Marilyn Bechtel, Communist Party international secretary (cpusainternat@mindspring.com).

Bush threatens Iran, war danger grows

Fri, 01 Aug 2003 03:54:00 +0000

News analysis

George Bush once again accused Iran of continuing to “harbor and assist terrorists,” July 21, warning of the consequences. Israel, as well, on July 21, accused Iran of “trying everything” to get nuclear weapons, and that if it succeeded, it would threaten a far wider theatre than just the Middle East.

Obviously these allegations should be seen in the context of deepening crisis in Iraq and the planned meeting between Bush and Sharon. It should be noted that Israel has consistently argued that the U.S. take direct military action against Iran, and there are also powerful elements within the Bush administration pressing for another “regime change.”

While allegations circulate that the UN inspectors found enriched uranium in environmental samples, the stage is being set by the Bush administration to use WMDs as a “Weapon of Mass Deception,” whipping up fear to justify an attack or blatant interference in the internal affairs of Iran.

As in Iraq, Iran faces an immensely unpopular, despotic regime, which is increasingly isolated from its people, and is incapable of presenting any coherent strategy against the U.S. threats. However, the anti-American rhetoric of Iran’s reactionary rulers are seen by the majority of Iranians as hollow propaganda, which will ultimately play into the hands of the U.S. hawks.

The regime’s rhetoric, particularly when foolishly posturing its military capability, as in the case of provocative remarks last week by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is a dangerous bluff. Instead, the government should be moving in the opposite direction, depriving the Bush administration of any pretext for aggression.

The Tudeh Party recently stated that “all kinds of provocative policies and adventurism must be avoided … [the regime] through negotiation and cooperation with international organizations should greatly limit any grounds for military attack against Iran.”

In recent weeks, a number of experts and members of parliament in Iran have argued for accepting the International Atomic Energy Agency’s “additional protocol” in order to defuse international pressure. Tarkashvand, a member of Majlis (parliament) while expressing caution towards signing of stricter terms proposed under the “Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons,” (NPT) stated: “It is in our national interest to prevent an international unanimity leading to passage of a UN resolution against Iran. … While the world’s opinion is against the proliferation of WMDs and their usage by countries such as Iran – through a realistic approach we must not provide anyone with any pretext [to invade].”

The U.S. military machine is equipped with an array of deadly and horrific weaponry, including a new generation of tactical nuclear devices. The Pentagon has officially stated the possibility of using its WMDs. Therefore the real nuclear threat in the region is from the U.S., not to mention the military dictatorship in Pakistan and the U.S.’s strategic ally, Israel, both of which are nuclear powers.

Iran is once again reaching a decisive juncture where the ruling regime is faced with both an internal and external crisis. U.S. imperialism is determined to directly influence the unfolding events in Iran. The exaggerated nuclear threat and Bush’s bogus support for Iran’s democracy movement are among the tools to ensure that future changes in Iran are in line with the administration’s strategic plans and economic interests, not democracy and development.

The people of Iran face a dual danger: On the one hand there is a growing threat from American militarism; on the other hand the reactionary rulers may unleash a bloody crackdown against the growing opposition. In both cases, the struggle for democracy will suffer the consequences and Iranian democrats will be the victims.

Gaining nuclear capability, particularly by a reactionary regime such as Iran’s, is objectionable to all progressive forces. However, all attempts must be made to prevent U.S. aggression and interference in Iran, while at the same time not providing any pretext of support for or lending any legitimacy to Iran’s repressive regime.

Nima Kamran is a correspondent from the Tudeh Party of Iran and can be reached at pww@pww.org

Thousands caught in deportation nightmare

Fri, 01 Aug 2003 03:07:00 +0000

Less than two weeks after Rabih Haddad’s wife vowed to clear the name of her deported husband, she and three of her children have themselves been deported. Salma Al-Rushaid and her children, ages 5 through 13, were deported July 28 to her native Kuwait for alleged visa violations. The family hopes to join Haddad in Lebanon soon. The couple’s fourth child, a U.S. citizen, will remain here.

Rabih Haddad, co-founder of a Chicago-area Islamic charity, was secretly deported to Lebanon on July 15 after being held in custody for 19 months by the Justice Department on suspicion of funneling money to terrorists. No terrorism-related charges were ever filed against Haddad or his charity.

The case of Rabih Haddad and his family attracted national attention, with civil libertarians, civil rights activists, and the Arab American community rallying to their defense. But thousands of families face the prospect of imminent deportation with little, if any, fanfare.

More than 13,000 immigrants and their families have had to put their lives on hold as the U.S. government threatens one of the largest mass deportations in the history of the country.

The program responsible for this, called the National Security Entry Exit Registration System (NSEERS) includes a provision called “special registration,” in which people of certain ages, mainly males over 16, from predominantly Muslim nations are ordered to register each year with the federal government. In its first year, 82,581 people registered, and of that number, 13,153 were given a “notice to appear” (NTA), which initiates deportation proceedings.

“The likelihood of an immigrant going through a deportation proceeding and not being deported is very low,” said Sobash Kateel of Families for Freedom, a group that works with families of deportees, in an interview with the World.

Of the thousands given NTAs, less than one half of one percent were found to be involved in any sort of criminal activity, and none were found with any connection to terrorism.

“NSEERS is presented as a national security program,” Hussein Ibish of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee told the World. “But it doesn’t help national security to spend all this time playing ‘Gotcha!’ to catch these people who have pretty minor visa violations. When it comes to Muslims and people from the Arab world, the government is using the most strict and draconian standards for what is a violation: for example, someone on a student visa who falls one credit hour short of full time. This doesn’t make anyone safer.”

The deportations and fears of deportation are creating havoc for thousands of families.

“My friends who are immigrants and I have to make different choices,” said Kateel. “Which streets to walk on, whether we go to the hospital or not, whether we dial 911 if our house is burning down, and so on. People are really scared and really fearful about day-to-day things that citizens take for granted.”

Suarev Sarakor, a field organizer for the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, told the World, “A lot of these families are coming from societies where the man is the primary wage earner. So when the man gets deported, the women and the children are then left to pick up the pieces. Emotionally, it’s extremely destructive. … These are people who were working in restaurants, grocery stores and weren’t doing anything wrong.”

The economic impact has been severe. “Cities and states were already struggling financially, and then the money in [immigrant] communities is gone,” Sarakor said. “Their stores are closing down, the hours get shorter and shorter. It has a real financial effect on communities as a whole, not just families, but entire neighborhoods.”

Many see special registration as part of an ongoing crackdown on immigrants and their families that started when federal immigration laws were changed in 1996, well before the events of Sept. 11, 2001.

“Folks want to talk about Sept. 11,” Kateel said. “But it wasn’t a watershed the way people think it was.” There is no doubt, however, that deportations have escalated under George W. Bush and Attorney General John Ashcroft, he said.

Kateel adds that this new round of attacks, while creating fear, has also prompted a new level of organization for immigrants’ rights.

One example is the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride, sponsored by organized labor, immigrant and civil rights groups, religious institutions, student and community organizations, and elected officials to demand legalization, family reunification, and respect for worker rights without regard to legal status. For more information on the Freedom Ride, call (212) 492-2164, or visit www.iwfr.org.

The author can be reached at dmargolis@cpusa.org