Saddam Hussein — the hated dictator of Iraq, and a man responsible for wars, torture and repression on a vast scale — is missing, perhaps dead.
His regime is crumbling, bashed to bits by the military might of the US. Groups of fighters loyal to the Iraqi regime continue to snipe at US and British forces, but the country is being over-run by the coalition's troops. And as it became clear that Saddam's power was ending, many of the people of Baghdad came onto the streets to celebrate the death of the regime. Huge, monstrous statues of Saddam were pulled down by Iraqis and US troops. And people danced in the streets. Bolshy is pleased to see the back of Saddam.
Many in the anti-war movement seemed prepared to back Saddam during this war — sometimes in a backhanded way by refusing to condemn his regime, or by focusing entirely on opposition to the US and British war effort. Not us! A victory for Saddam (while it always looked impossible, given the military balance of forces) would have been a disaster for the Iraqis, the Kurds and Saddam’s neighbours.
Bolshy does not support either side in this war. We are neither for the US and British forces, nor for Saddam. The US is fighting to remove a maverick dictator and replace Saddam’s regime with a more compliant one. They care about Iraq because the region is oil-rich and western capitalism requires a sure-supply of oil.
To justify this war Bush pretended that Saddam had links with the Islamist terrorist-gang, al-Qaida, and talked-up Saddam’s capacity to use ‘weapons of mass destruction’ against the west.
To get rid of Saddam, the Western forces have already killed many, many hundreds of Iraqi civilians (and if Saddam’s forces in Baghdad had put more resistance they would have been prepared to kill many more to win this war), and destroyed much of the country’s infrastructure.
Bush talks about the ‘liberation’ of Iraq. But the US and Britain intend to place a retired US general in charge of the country. It is not clear how long such a regime will be in place and whether the US intends to leave a permanent garrison in the country.
We say: Iraq needs democracy! Let the people of Iraq decide the future of Iraq! Many Iraqi people may well have welcomed the US troops — who they consider a lesser evil to Saddam. They are glad to see the back of the old Ba’athist thug. This is not the same as saying that the people positively want US troops in their country, or undemocratic US rule imposed on them.
We’ve seen similar situations before, much closer to home. In Ireland, in 1968, some Catholic workers welcomed the British troops as protectors against sectarian violence. That welcome was quickly withdrawn as the British troops used repression against the Catholic community.
The oppressed Shi’ite workers in Saddam City, Baghdad, may well have welcomed the US today but may well turn on the US tomorrow (significantly many were shouting ‘“God is great”).
It may well be that the US and British forces have to fight to hold Iraq together (it is an artificial country made up of Kurds in the north, with Sunni Muslims and Shiites to the south); and they may well be faced with opposition from Islamist groups and Arab nationalists.
Bolshy says: side with the Iraqi workers! For democracy and workers’ rights in Iraq! Freedom for the Kurds! No US-British occupation!
