EDITORIAL
With or without the U.N.:
The Bloody War to Carve Up Iraq Continues

Sep 8, 2003

Both Republican and Democratic Party politicians are hailing the Bush administration’s decision to try to get United Nations Security Council backing to send a multinational military force to occupy Iraq.

Of course, even if the U.N. Security Council does give its stamp of approval to sending a multinational force into Iraq, this would not change the nature of the war. It would just mean that, along with the U.S. military, more troops from more countries would help impose imperial domination over the Iraqi people, secure imperial control of Iraqi’s resources, especially its oil, maintain Iraq as a semi-colony of the big foreign powers, especially of the U.S.

Up until this time, the Bush administration had done this job without the other lesser imperialist powers, without the U.N., only with its very junior partner, Great Britain, at its side. But the Bush administration figured that it could do the job. With the mightiest and most overwhelming war machine in the world, Bush and his "brain trust" figured that the Iraqi people would just bow down to the mighty U.S. occupiers.

But that didn’t happen. On the contrary, after the U.S. began to occupy their country, the Iraqi people began to demand that the U.S. get out. And after the U.S. military responded to these demands by shooting down Iraqi demonstrators, parts of the Iraqi population took up arms in a guerrilla war that the U.S. military so far has not been able to stop or contain.

Now, the Bush administration is going to the U.N. to get help. Will Bush get it? That depends on how much the U.S. government and U.S. companies are willing to give up to their European "allies" and "friends." Up until now, the Bush administration had tried to cut these "allies and friends" out of benefitting from the spoils of war in Iraq that is, all the oil, construction contracts, etc. Instead, they tried to keep it all for U.S. companies. Of course, the governments of France, Germany and Russia were upset. This is why they resisted the U.S.-led-war and opposed the U.N. from sanctioning that war. Of course, these governments had always signaled that they would change their position and send large contingents of troops to Iraq–if the Bush administration made it worth their while, that is, if the Bush administration agreed to share out some of the profits and riches from that war.

This is what is being debated at the U.N. right now. Under the guise of "bringing peace to Iraq" under the banner of the U.N., the diplomats of the different countries are debating how to carve up the riches and wealth of Iraq.

Of course, there is no guarantee that the capitalist thieves from these different countries will come to an agreement on this. But working people in the U.S. should have no illusions or get side tracked by this sideshow, even if they doagree.

With or without the U.N., the war in Iraq continues. The horrific casualties mount. Hundreds of U.S. troops have already been killed, more than during the official war, and six thousand have been shipped home, wounded, or otherwise disabled. Thousands and thousands of Iraqis continue to be shot down at U.S. checkpoints and raids, or felled by such silent killers as disease and abject misery.

Working people should relearn the lesson that previous generations learned from the war in Viet Nam: what got the U.S. out of that dirty, murderous war was the mobilization of people in this country in the streets.

There is no other way.