Saddam
I think it is a good thing that the US Army has captured our ex-ally, Saddam Hussein, but this statement on the biggest public relations victory the Bush regime has had for a while has a lot of good points:

A.N.S.W.E.R. STATEMENT ON RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN IRAQ
Dec. 14, 2003

The U.S. military capture of Iraqi president Saddam
Hussein is being trumpeted by the corporate media and the
Bush administration as simultaneously a great victory, the
start of a new era, and justification for the U.S.
invasion and occupation of Iraq.

The seizure and public display of Saddam Hussein may be a
propaganda victory for imperialism, but it changes nothing
fundamental about the situation in Iraq, particularly the
reality that the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq
constitute a blatant and brutal violation of both
international and U.S. law.

While hailing the detention of Saddam Hussein after an
intense 8-month search, the current co-dictators of Iraq,
L. Paul Bremer and Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, are
expressing the hope of the Bush administration as a whole
that this development will signal the beginning of the end
for the Iraqi resistance.

But intensifying Iraqi resistance to the illegal and
colonial war and occupation has not been primarily based -
according even to the more knowledgeable corporate media
journalists in Iraq - on loyalty to any particular
individual. Instead, it is a response to the negation of
Iraq's sovereignty and independence, as well as the
increasing brutality of the occupying army.

Even supporters of Bush's war such as Sen. Jay
Rockefeller, Vice-Chair of the Senate Intelligence
Committee, are raising questions: "Given the location and
circumstances of his capture, it makes clear that Saddam
was not managing the insurgency. ... That is significant
and disturbing because it means the insurgents are not
fighting for Saddam, they're fighting against the United
States."

There can be no question that the Iraq occupation is a
colonial project in every respect. The U.S.-appointed
"Iraq Governing Council" is headed by CIA asset Ahmed
Chalabi, whose family was the richest in all of Iraq when
the British-controlled regime was overthrown in 1958. All
of Iraq's assets are being put on the auction block.

The U.S. is setting up colonial-style Iraqi police,
intelligence services, and paramilitary death squads. It
is taking and holding family members hostage, including
children and grandparents, to force Iraqis to submit
themselves for "interrogation." U.S. forces are using
"Israeli-style" collective punishment and violence against
the population as a whole in large parts of the country.

"With a heavy dose of fear and violence, and a lot of
money for projects, I think we can convince these people
that we are here to help them," stated a U.S. battalion
commander in Iraq (New York Times, December 7, 2003). He
was speaking from one of the many Iraq villages that the
U.S. has wrapped in razor wire, holding entire communities
prisoner. A sign on the barbed wire reads, in English
only, "This fence is here for your protection. Do not
approach or try to cross, or you will be shot."

The U.S. government has a long history of destabilizing
and overthrowing governments and replacing them with
brutal dictatorships. One need only look at Iran, the
Congo, Guatemala, and Chile to know that the democratic or
undemocratic character of the government targeted by the
U.S. has never been the motivation for its actions. In
that context the U.S. government has supported the most
brutal dictatorships and military regimes.

The long standing demonization of the former Iraqi
government followed by the invasion and occupation of Iraq
is part of a larger global project by the United States to
militarily destroy any government that seeks to maintain
even nominal independence from the dictates of Washington
and Wall Street. The leadership of North Korea, Iran,
Syria, Zimbabwe, Cuba, Palestine and others have been
selected by the Bush administration for destruction. This
stands in fundamental violation of the right of self
determination. Only the Iraqi people have the right to
determine who their leaders will be.

People should keep in mind as they watch the forthcoming
carefully packaged documentary of the "crimes" of the
former Iraqi government, that the Bush administration has
taken tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi lives, has
plunged Iraq into chaos and anarchy, and has removed the
essential features of sovereignty for the Iraqi people who
struggled in the past for decades against colonial rule.

The occupation is taking the lives of Iraqis, U.S. and
other "coalition" forces every day. While Halliburton,
Bechtel and other U.S. corporations are reaping immense
profits, the people both here and there are paying the
price for Bush and his corporate friends' looting spree,
in blood and money. According to administration figures,
the cost of the Iraq occupation is 210 million dollars
every day. The administration has stated that it need not
bother to count the number of Iraqis that it kills.

We will continue and intensify our mobilizing work to
demand: "End the Occupation, Bring the Troops Home NOW!
Money for Jobs, Health Care and Education, Not for War and
Occupation."