EDITORIAL
Stop These Endless Wars

May 27, 2013

In a big speech on May 23, President Barack Obama proclaimed that he was ending the 12-year-old U.S. war on terror.

“War on terror”–that’s what they call the U.S. imperial wars against a multitude of peoples around the world. Those wars aren’t ending.

The U.S. still has more than 60,000 troops in Afghanistan. That is close to twice as many U.S. troops as in 2009, when Obama first took office. Obama promises to pull all U.S. troops out ... but in 19 more months! Meanwhile, Obama’s own military commanders demand that they keep tens of thousands of U.S. troops in Afghanistan for many more years.

No, the horrific, 12-year-old U.S. war in Afghanistan is far from over.

Neither is the other big U.S. war: Iraq.

Sure, Obama claims that the U.S. pulled all its troops out at the end of 2011. But those troops were replaced by thousands of U.S. advisors, trainers and other agents. They are supplemented by tens of thousands of mercenaries and private contractors. And they are directed from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad’s Green Zone, which is so massive, it is more like a small city.

Those U.S. forces are supposed to secure Iraq’s rich oil fields for the profit of U.S. oil companies. Meanwhile, the civil war that the U.S. provoked in Iraq continues to rage, with daily bombings and terrorist attacks that target the Iraqi population.

The U.S. military may be slowly drawing down some of its troops from its ongoing wars in the Middle East and Central Asia. It also may be trying to avoid going into Syria. But the U.S. warmongers are not ending their military adventures. Not at all.

In fact, they are expanding. More U.S. troops, along with more war planes, drones, ships and other military resources, are being shifted into the Asia-Pacific region, the big U.S. troop “pivot.”

The U.S. military presence in the Pacific region is already massive, with 320,000 U.S. military personnel and 11 aircraft carriers. Trade and investment in this region by U.S. corporations and banks have been growing by leaps and bounds, in order to exploit and profit from the plentiful cheap labor and abundant resources. And where U.S. investment goes, U.S. troops go.

The worsening economic crisis has heated up competition in this region. The U.S. capitalists will use what that bigger force represents to dictate their terms against their competitors: the old European powers, Japan, China, and even South Korea.

The U.S. “war on terror” that began 12 years ago was never about protecting the U.S. population against “terrorists.” The U.S. government used the 9/11 terrorist attacks that caused thousands of deaths in this country as an excuse to unleash U.S. wars for oil and domination.

Now, there is a new U.S. troop build-up. Just like Bush, Obama follows the dictates of the big U.S. corporations, banks and weapons manufacturers in their drive for greater profits at the expense of the peoples around the world.

U.S. workers have no interest in supporting any of it. Attacks on workers in other countries are attacks on workers here.

End all U.S. wars–now!