People's Democracy

Iraq: One Year Of Occupation & Resistance

 Prakash Karat

IT is one year since the United States and Britain launched their attack on Iraq resulting in its occupation.  March 20 marks the first anniversary of the war of aggression.  This date will always  be remembered in history as the day when the United States launched its infamous aggression violating all international laws.  President Bush set another criminal record in attacking a sovereign country which posed no threat to the United States.  The war was waged in the name of pre-empting a  threat from Iraq's so-called "weapons of mass destruction".

Iraq is still under American occupation.  One lakh thirty thousand troops of the United States along with around 25,000 troops from its allies police the country. But president Bush and the United States are caught in a quagmire.  Till March 15, five hundred and sixty four American soldiers have been killed in Iraq and thousands more injured.  There is no official count kept by the Americans of the number of Iraqis who have died since the war began. No less than ten thousand have died in the past one year.  For Bush and his cohorts, Iraqi lives, particularly of civilians are of no consequence, thus exposing the hypocrisy of the claim that Iraq was invaded for the good of the Iraqi people. 

One year after the aggression and occupation, the Americans have found no trace of the dreaded weapons of mass destruction – no nuclear bombs, no chemical or biological weapons.  The CIA which was deputed to conduct the search returned and submitted a report that no such weapons exist.  The intelligence reports which  cited  evidence  for the same were a fabrication.

The second fraudulent  reason for the war was that the Iraqi regime had links with terrorist groups like the Al Qaeda.  As long as the Baathist regime was in power, there was no scope for any Islamic fundamentalist  activity. Under Saddam Hussein's authoritarian regime, any fundamentalist group which surfaced would have been given short shrift. The Baathist regime was brutal but it was secular.  The American occupation has undone the secular nature of the Iraqi state.  In the name of implanting democracy in Iraq, every religious and ethnic group is being promoted.  The Islamist forces are in the ascendant and they are demanding that Iraq be declared an Islamic state when the Americans hand over power. 

RETURN OF COLONIALISM

Iraq, which was a British colony for four decades of the 20th century, was welded into a nation-state by its prolonged struggle against colonial rule.  American occupation is working hard to undo the Iraqi national identity.  The Kurds, Sunnis and Shias are being encouraged to assert their respective identities. 

Iraq, under occupation, represents a patchwork quilt.  The Americans have parcelled out different parts of the country to the allied forces.  The British, Dutch, Polish, Italians, Spanish and scores of such contingents are overseeing various parts of the country. Most of these countries themselves were notorious colonial oppressors in the past like the Italians in Ethiopia, the Spanish in Morocco and the Dutch in Indonesia. 

Iraq today reminds one of the height of the colonial days when various colonial powers vied with each other for capturing the oil and other precious resources of the colonies.  But there is one major difference – Iraq is under the overall hegemony of one imperialist power, the United States.  All other allies are just junior satraps who have to be satisfied with some crumbs off the American plate.

NEO-COLONIAL LOOT

The occupation is not just military in nature.  It is accompanied by the invasion of American companies and the taking over of key sectors of the economy by American businessmen.  The most favoured American corporation is Halliburton.  Its subsidiary, Kellog, Brown and Root have an ongoing contract in Iraq with the Pentagon which has now reached $2 billion.  Nine out of the ten biggest contractors in Iraq – Bechtel and Halliburton included – either employed former senior government officials, or, have close ties with the government agencies or the Congress.  Seventy companies which have received government contracts  for work in Iraq or Afghanistan contributed more than half a million dollars to Bush's 2000 election campaign.  The loot  of Iraq is going on and oil is the prize.

American style colonialism is distinct from the old colonialism.  It proclaims democracy and freedom as the watchwords.  Bush and Blair had waxed eloquent on how the Iraqi people welcomed the liberators and how the Anglo-American project is to bestow democracy to the Iraqi people.  Unfortunately for them, the Iraqi people had other ideas. Their anger at the occupation of their country burst out.  The resistance in Iraq has grown steadily over the year.  Every day, fighters belonging to the resistance attack the occupying forces, target the hired police and administrative personnel and hit at oil pipelines and other economic installations.

FIERCE RESISTANCE

Faced with this growing popular resistance, the Americans first dismissed them as remnants of the Saddam regime who are mounting desperate attacks.  When the resistance continued and became more widespread targeting the Turkish and Jordanian embassies and systematically hitting at the allied forces like the Italians and the Spanish, the Americans claimed that foreign terrorists and Al Qaeda elements have entered the country. But the intensity of the resistance and the mounting attacks all over the country have shattered the myth of small groups of terrorists, or, of the remnants of old regime putting up armed resistance.

NEW STRATEGY

By November 2003, the United States was forced to reconsider its strategy. Before the war, the Americans had planned to occupy the country for at least two years before handing over to a pliable Iraqi regime.  Now, after the CIA itself submitted a report that the Iraqi people were losing faith in the US occupation and the puppet Governing Council, the Americans were forced to revise their plan.

Paul Bremer, the governor of Iraq, announced plans to hand over power to an Iraqi authority by June 30, 2004. By then, there would be an interim legislature which would be indirectly elected.  Bush, who had earlier ignored and bypassed the United Nations, appealed to the secretary general to intervene and play a supervisory role during the transition.

Unable to suppress the growing opposition to the occupation, the Americans decided to hand over the administration to a careful selected interim government.  For this, the puppet Governing Council was enjoined to prepare an interim constitution.  Along with this would be an agreement for the continuance of American forces in Iraq.  The Americans have been busy raising a puppet Iraqi army and police force.

FARCE OF DEMOCRACY

The Americans have rejected the demand for direct elections for the legislature.  In such an election, all the clients and sponsored parties would be rejected.  They also fear victory for the Shia majority which could lead to an Iran-type situation.

From July 1, the Americans would stop patrolling the cities and stay in their military basis.  The task of facing the resistance would be left to the Iraqi army and civil defence force.  The Americans would provide the logistics, quick reactionary forces to assist them, communications, training and weaponry. 

The United States has already inducted private military companies to undertake security duties.  These military private companies provide mercenary forces.  One such is the joint South African-British company, Erinys, which has got a multimillion dollar contract to protect the Iraqi oil industry.  Using American-sponsored Iraqi troops and private mercenary forces, the Americans hope to cut down on the losses being suffered by its armed forces.

The resistance has blown up the myth that the Americans have liberated Iraq. It has also exposed the lack of any public support, or, credibility for American agents like Ahmad Chalabi who is on the Governing Council.  Recently, the Pentagon had to admit Chalabi is being paid $340,000 a month for "intelligence collection" in Iraq.  It is such people who are supposed to be bringing democracy to Iraq.   Bush claimed that the ouster of Saddam Hussein "is a watershed event in the global democratic revolution".  It is the Chalabis of the world who are the flag-bearers of this democratic revolution. 

Bush is facing increasingly awkward questions about the reason why he waged war on Iraq.  His loyal friend and partner, Tony Blair, is in a worse plight. The majority of the people in Britain had never accepted Blair's glib charges against Iraq.  Blair continues as the prime minister, morally compromised and diminished in status. He has to also contend with the dramatic changeover in Spain.

SPANISH ELECTIONS

The rightwing Spanish government headed by prime minister Aznar was one of the staunchest supporters of the United States' war on Iraq. It sent 1300 troops to help the Americans.  The horrific bomb blast in Madrid  on the eve of the Spanish elections has killed 200 people and injured 1500.  The terrorist elements who perpetrated this attack have declared that it is in revenge for the Spanish support to the American occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq.  The Spanish people had overwhelmingly opposed the Aznar government's loud support to America.  Ninety per cent of the people in opinion polls had opposed the war on Iraq.  February 2003 saw millions demonstrating in the streets of Madrid and other cities opposing America's war. The prime minister-elect Zapatero has announced that Spanish troops will be withdrawn from Iraq by June 30 unless the United Nations takes charge of the interim administration.

The electorate has rejected Aznar's party and voted in the socialists who opposed the war.  They have also expressed their anger at the conservative government's efforts to blame the Basque separatist group, ETA, for the bombings and for trying to cover-up the role of the Al Qaeda and the connection to Iraq.  The Spanish people have taught a lesson to Aznar and his party for their blind allegiance to Bush and Blair's plans.   This is a signal of the times to come.  Both Bush and Blair are haunted by the spectre of the Spanish elections. They face increased opposition not only in Iraq but in their own countries. 

For the worldwide opposition to America's hegemony and military adventures, March 20 will be an occasion to once again make a powerful international mobilisation.  All over the world, on that day, the demand will be raised by millions of people – End the Occupation of Iraq.