Mass demonstrations against the US occupation took place in Baghdad on Thursday, March 27, 2008. Fighting has escalated throughout the country against the imperialist occupiers and their surrogates.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos
By John Catalinotto
Published Apr 4, 2008 8:22 PM
A U.S.-backed assault by Iraqi puppet troops on Premier Nuri al-Maliki’s rivals killed 605 Iraqis and some U.S. troops but failed to crush the Mahdi Army, its target.
Led by the Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, the Mahdi Army is the largest nongovernmental armed force, with its troops coming from the poorest population in the Shiite community.
Fighting went on full force in the southern city of Basra, a center of oil production, for five days. It also spread to Shiite neighborhoods of Baghdad like Sadr City. The Mahdi Army and either government or U.S. troops held pitched battles in many parts of the country, including Nasiriyah, Hilla, Al-Amarah and other places. Even the fortified “Green Zone” in the capital came under mortar attack.
Premier al-Maliki had gone to Basra himself to demand Mahdi Army commanders surrender and turn over their weapons within 72 hours or face destruction. Instead, U.S. and British air power had to intervene to stop the Mahdi Army from overrunning Iraqi government positions. Al-Maliki was evacuated by a U.S. helicopter on March 30, according to the Iraq Resistance Report.
The Mahdi Army held its ground everywhere. In some areas it sent the puppet army running.
On March 31 al-Sadr ordered the Mahdi Army to comply with a cease fire. But he said his forces would refuse to hand over their arms as long as the U.S. occupied Iraq. Al-Sadr also demanded that the government grant a general amnesty to the Mahdi Army, release all imprisoned members of this force who have not been convicted of crimes, and bring back “the displaced people who have fled their homes as a result of military operations.”
The attack on the Mahdi Army turned into a small-scale version of the U.S.-Israeli abortive attack on Lebanon in the summer of 2006, when forces led by Hezbollah rebuffed the powerful Israeli Army. An Iraqi puppet Interior Ministry official said that “in the aftermath of the failed assault, the government had dismissed 150 police officers and 400 policemen for refusing to fight in the conflict.” (New York Times, April 1)
As of the morning of April 1, the media reported that the ceasefire was holding. One Mahdi Army official said, however, that al-Sadr’s order to prohibit fighting applied only to Iraqi security forces. If U.S. troops enter Sadr City, he said, the fight goes on. “Maybe our case with the government is over,” he said. “But not with the occupiers.” (New York Times, April 1)
A defeat for the U.S. occupation
Faced with a military debacle, the U.S. government and the Pentagon argued that the attack was completely the initiative of the al-Maliki government. According to the New York Times, however, the U.S. had all along been pushing al-Maliki to attack the Mahdi Army, which Washington considers too close an ally of Iran. Bush had called the clashes “a defining moment in Iraq.” (March 31)
The U.S. denial was also belied by the rapid intervention of U.S. and British air power. All over Basra, U.S. bombs were killing Iraqi civilians, whom Pentagon statements described as “militia gangsters.”
The al-Maliki regime’s spin was his claim that Iraqi troops were not targeting the Mahdi Army, but only “criminal elements” that had taken over Basra. It is apparent al-Maliki was weakened as a result of the failed assault, and al-Sadr strengthened. Both al-Maliki and the U.S. Embassy had to publicly thank al-Sadr for declaring the cease-fire.
This all may impact further on a national vote set for October. Even before the fighting, al-Sadr’s group was expected to win this vote big.
Washington’s initial strategy to conquer Iraq—based on “shock and awe”—collapsed long ago. Once an Iraqi resistance arose, the Pentagon proved incapable of winning, holding and stabilizing the country and exploiting its oil.
The U.S. soon moved from “shock and awe” to “divide and conquer” tactics. While Washington failed to conquer Iraq, it did succeed in dividing the Iraqis. Some major Shiite organizations that had been opponents of the Saddam Hussein government joined the puppet regime.
In the predominantly Sunni areas, the heroic resistance of nationalist, Islamic and Baathist-led forces stopped the Pentagon from securing and stabilizing Iraq. But up to now the U.S. occupation forces have been able to dig in and hold on, even as morale among U.S. troops plummets.
In all this the Mahdi Army and al-Sadr have played a contradictory role. On the one hand, the Mahdi Army rank and file is anti-occupation. Washington has attacked them with both words and weapons, calling them puppets of Iran.
On the other hand, instead of turning their fire on the U.S. occupiers and their local allies, the Mahdi Army has accepted a role in the puppet Maliki government. The question now is: Will the U.S.-al-Maliki open attack on the Mahdi Army push it closer to the Iraqi resistance movement?
In the midst of the Iraqi turmoil, U.S. Gen. David Petraeus is coming to Congress April 8-9 to report on “the success of the surge” and plead for more funds for a criminal U.S. war that has already cost the lives of a million Iraqis and 4,300 U.S. occupation troops.
E-mail: jcat@workers.org
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An open letter to the anti-war movement
Published Apr 3, 2008 9:00 PM
As a result of an important action taken at the recent International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU) Caucus, Longshore workers will stop work during the first shift in opposition to the war in Iraq on May 1, 2008. They will also use this occasion to acknowledge International Workers Day to express labor solidarity concerning issues and challenges that confront workers.
This war has cost more than 4,000 American lives and 29,000 have been seriously injured. It has been estimated that 1 million Iraqis have lost their lives, untold have been injured and 4 million have been displaced in this illegal and immoral war and occupation. The war is costing $435 million per day. So far, $526 billion has been expended on the war. The daily amount spent on the war could enroll 58,000 youngsters in Head Start or provide health insurance to 329,200 low-income children.
We’re writing to ask you to contact ILWU President Robert McEllrath with a letter of support for the Longshore Caucus’ resolution to use International Workers Day to “stop work to stop the war.” Please ask other organizations to do the same.
Robert McEllrath, ILWU President
1188 Franklin Street
San Francisco, CA 94109
(415) 775-0533
(415) 775-1302 FAX
Your support in spreading the word of this historic action is very important.
In Solidarity,
Clarence Thomas
National Co-Chair
Million Worker March Movement
920 - 54th Street, Oakland, CA 94608
Phone: 510-333-4301; Fax: 510-215-2800
Faculty, staff union supports ILWU anti-war work stoppage
Published Apr 3, 2008 8:50 PM
The following anti-war resolution was adopted unanimously at the March 27 delegate assembly of the Professional Staff Congress, AFT Local 2334 at the City University of New York.
Whereas, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union has voted to stop work and shut down all 29 West Coast ports for the full 8-hour day shift on May 1st, in protest against the war in Iraq and Afghanistan; and
Whereas, this historic decision to use the power of their contract to close the ports represents one of the most powerful forms of labor action a union can take to demand an end to the war; and
Whereas, the Professional Staff Congress/CUNY has, since the start of the war in Iraq, called for an end to the war and a reordering of national priorities so that funding is available for education, healthcare, jobs and other human needs; and
Whereas, it is especially important that CUNY students, faculty and staff have an opportunity to discuss the meaning of a powerful labor action to end the war, given the intense military recruitment our students face and the direct effect of the war budget on CUNY funding and contracts; and
Whereas, the PSC has embarked on the most intense phase of our fight for a fair contract; and
Whereas, the ILWU has expressed the hope that its decision will be a “clarion call” to the rest of labor; and
Whereas, the March meeting of the Hunter PSC chapter voted to hold an outdoor event/teach-in against the war in Iraq and Afghanistan on May 1st in solidarity with the ILWU work stoppage and with the theme of mobilizing labor’s power against the war; therefore be it
RESOLVED that the PSC send to the ILWU a message of solidarity on the occasion of their historic initiative for workers’ action against the war, and as part of this effort, be it further
RESOLVED that while the priority for PSC organizing during the next two months will be the drive to reach a good contract settlement, PSC chapters that vote to undertake a campus event or teach-in on May 1 in solidarity with the ILWU action will be supported in doing so; and such actions should reach out as broadly as possible to students and the community and should contribute to building the union campaign for a good contract.
'All out for May Day'
Published Apr 4, 2008 8:13 PM
On March 28, the May 1st Coalition for Immigrant and Worker Rights held a news conference to announce plans for May Day 2008. The media event took place in front of the ICE detention center in downtown Manhattan and was covered by several news agencies including NY1. The conference made the front page of El Diario newspaper.
The news conference was attended by Silvia Henriquez, executive director of National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, speaking on behalf of the National Coalition for Immigrant Women’s Rights; Joao Brandao, community organizer, Cidadao Global and Brasilian Immigrant Rights Organization; Walter Sinche, Ecuadorian Immigrant Rights Group Pachamama; Marina Diaz, Movimiento de Guatamaltecos en los EE.UU. and Centro Guatamaltecos en los EE.UU.; Yancy Mark Gandionco, Matt Cheirs representatives of NAFCON, National Filipino Concerns; Comrade Shahid, Pakistani USA Freedom Forum; and Teresa Gutierrez of the May 1st Coalition.
Two Minutemen attempted to disrupt the press conference but failed. The May Day rally will take place May 1st at 4p.m. in Union Square. Organizers report that mobilizing efforts are going very well.
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