Opinion

Millions of people around the globe, united in opposition to an impending U.S. invasion of Iraq, took to the streets on Feb. 15th and 16th chanting “No Attack on Iraq!” and “No Blood for Oil!”.

Between six and ten million people marched in over 60 countries--making these protests the largest anti-war gatherings since the Vietnam War.

In Osaka, 1,000 people assembled at Ogimachi Park on Saturday afternoon, Feb. 15th, for a rally against the planned U.S. attack on Iraq. Protesters represented a wide range of the Osaka community, including unions, student organizations, and the international community.

After listening to speakers condemn U.S. policy toward Iraq, people marched to the U.S. Consulate, where they stopped to chant and show their opposition to any American-led assault. The march proceeded to Osaka City Hall and disbanded.

Around the world, people assembled and marched to protest the Bush Administration’s intention to further expand American hegemony in the Middle East. From New York to Sydney, Australia, and from Oslo, Norway, to Cape Town, South Africa, people united to tell the American government that they wanted no part in U.S. plans for war in the Middle East.

Melbourne, Australia, saw the first action with 100,000-200,000 kicking off the international days of protest. In New York City, 500,000 gathered, despite city and federal government attempts to ban the protest and limit the march route.

Protest numbers in other cities:
2 Million in London
1 Million in Rome - unofficial: 2 million
1.3 Million in Barcelona
800,000 in Madrid
500,000 in Berlin
400,000 in Paris
250,000 in San Francisco
250,000 in Sydney
200,000 in Damascus
150,000 in Montreal
100,000 in Adelaide
100,000 in Brisbane
100,000 in Dublin
100,000 in Glasgow
   30,000-100,000 in Los Angeles
   80,000 in Lisbon
   60,000-75,000 in Seattle.
   70,000 in Amsterdam
   50,000 in Buenos Aires
   50,000 in Montevideo
   10,000 in Mexico City
    6,000 in Tokyo
    1,000 in Osaka

On the day of a U.S.-led invasion against Iraq, people are asked to gather at the south side of Osaka City Hall at 6:00 pm. A march will proceed to the U.S. Consulate in Osaka to protest the attack.

The Crisis in the Middle East: Iraq, Palestinians and the US Quest for Oil
by David Lawrence

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, gave the Bush Administration the pretext it needed to launch a new round of American imperial expansion in the Middle East. The New Year begins on an ominous note as America prepares for a global war without end by again invading Iraq and by expanding its global war against terrorism. While the stated military objective is to defeat terrorism, the economic goal is to secure vital oil reserves in the region.

While 2001 ended with a massive bombing campaign and a military invasion aimed at overthrowing Taliban rule in Afghanistan and eliminating Al Qaeda in retaliation for the Sept. 11th attacks, 2002 saw the start of a world-wide US effort to crush local insurgencies from Palestine to the Philippines. In this new War on Terror” any resistance to oppressive social and economic conditions is labelled as a terrorist act--and any act of resistance against US allies is to be regarded as a terrorist act against the American state. The US reserves the right to unilaterally intervene.

Concerning terrorism originating in the Middle East, beyond the need to teach a lesson to those who would dare to attack the economic and military nerve centers of the American empire, there is a very real need to secure Middle Eastern oil supplies in an era of increasing turmoil in that part of the world. Plans for the takeover of Middle Eastern oil fields go back to at least the early1980s; the political and economic elite in Washington, DC, and New York have never been happy about the wave of anti-colonial and nationalist revolutions which occurred during the 1950s and 1960s. Many of those upheavals ended in the nationalization of Middle Eastern oil with the profits going back to the nation and not into the pockets of western capitalists and their local ruling class lackeys.

In the first of many US covert operations in the region, the CIA orchestrated a coup in Iran in 1953 in order to throw out the populist Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh. The plot was in reaction to Mossadegh’s nationalization of Iran’s oil resources and the ousting of the despot Shah. Up until Mossadegh’s nationalization, British oil interests had been taking a disproportionate amount of Iran’s oil profits. The people of Iran saw none of the profits from their oil wealth.

It seems all but inevitable that Bush will send the US military into Iraq for the conclusion of Gulf War I. This coming confrontation is nothing more than the culmination of more than ten years of US-British aggression against Iraq. According to impartial estimates, more than 500,000 children have died as a result of sanctions imposed on Iraq after the end of the 1991 conflict.

Now, with the “War on Terrorism” as the pretext and with a new generation of Americans having been spoon fed US propaganda demonizing Hussein, the Iraqi people face yet another onslaught. The justification for war is “regime change” and the destruction of whatever remains of the regime’s arsenal of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). The open secret, however, is that this is as much a war for oil as anything. Liberating the people of Iraq--or any other Middle Eastern nation for that matter-- from a despotic regime has never been high on any American administration’s “To Do” list. In fact, like many other US-supported dictators (Marcos of the Philippines, Noreiga of Panama, Mobuto of Zaire), Saddam Hussein was a trusted ally long before he became an enemy. It is only when one of our thugs crosses over the line, as Hussein did in 1990 when he invaded Kuwait, that he then becomes the enemy.

While the list of the crimes of Saddam Hussein is indeed a long one, the US (and other Western nations) turned a blind eye, as long as he was furthering Western geo-political goals. Hussein’s crimes (war crimes against Iran during a decade-long war, the repression of the Kurds and other ethnic groups in Iraq, etc.) were ignored as long as Hussein was our goon. US and Western European governments and corporations supplied Hussein with the materials needed to manufacture WMD--and the Western “Merchants of Death” profited handsomely. In fact, it is hardly surprising that the 12,000 page document detailing the Iraqi WMD program which was recently handed over to the UN was quickly stolen and quickly edited by US officials. There are suspicions that this was done to hide facts concerning US and European involvment in Iraq WMD programs.

For years, Hussein served US and European interests and they rewarded him handsomely. When he became a free-lance operator, he stepped over the line and was punished. If Hussein is ever apprehended, he might meet the same fate as Panamanian dictator Manuel Noreiga, who languishes in a US prison. Noreiga is kept in solitary confinement and denied press access. Thus, it is very difficult for independent sources to find out more about the very close relationship between this unsavory character and the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. Hussein’s close relationship with those administrations is an open secret. The present administration would prefer that inconvenient facts be erased.

These facts have been known for years by people who study Western involvement in the Middle East. However, getting the facts out to the general American public in the face of hegemonic corporate media control is another story.

Over the past year, the so-called “War on Terrorism” has resulted in a series of overt miltary interventions and covert operations which the American people have been toldvery little about: US troops invaded and occupied Afghanistan; “advisors” in counter-insurgency operations are operating in the Philippines; assassinations of suspected enemies have been carried out in Yemen. New US military bases have been set up in Central Asia, in the strategic Horn of Africa (Djibouti) and in the Gulf (Qatar). Other US bases in the region have been expanded for eventual US military operations in the Middle East and Southwest Asia. In Israel and the Occupied Territories, the second Intifadeh (uprising) against Israel's illegal occupation has turned into a low intensity war. When the US invades Iraq, many observers believe that Israel will initiate “ethnic cleansing” of the Palestinian population.

In Israel, the concept of “Transfer” of the Palestinian population been openly discussed (although you will not hear anything about it in the American media). The Palestinian population is to be transported to Jordan. For Zionists, this would end--once and for all-- the 80 year old problem of Palestinian resistance to Israeli colonization and expropriation of Palestinian lands. The remaining indigenous Palestinian population (those which were not made refugees during the other Arab-Israeli wars of 1948, 1956, 1967, and 1973) would finally be dealt with during the fog of war in Iraq.

From the perspective the officials in the Bush Administration, the attacks of Sept. 11th could not have come at a better time. American capitalism is in crisis. The US economy is in recession, the last two years have seen huge losses on the stock market (the worst since the Great Depression).

The terrorist attacks forced the American public to focus on the external enemy. Attention was deflected from the internal crises (the highest level of poverty since the early 1960s; corporate corruption at the highest levels, involving members of the current Bush Administration; the downturns in the stock market and the Nasdaq; and the Bush Administration’s inability, indeed, unwillingness to initiate needed reforms of a corrupt economic system.

In America, the buildup toward war and imperial expansion has served as a smokescreen to cover over the economic crisis. It also is seen as a way out of an economic quagmire in the making. The US will need massive imports of cheap oil in the future and direct control of Middle Eastern oil is seen as insuring unlimited supplies to the US.

But preparations for this war for oil have not gone on without public opposition. While Americans are not as naive as they were at the outset of the US war against Vietnam, the vast majority of Americans know very little about the Middle East and the history of US covert and overt operations in the region. The corporate-owned media does its best to keep Americans uninformed about the region. Likewise, the fog of propaganda that Americans are exposed to daily has kept them in the dark about the nature of American imperialism, the growing threat of militarism and intervention abroad--and the growing threats of fascism and repression at home.

Since last fall, there have been large demonstrations against US preparations for a war against Iraq. Americans have been mobilizing against the Bush administration’s attempt to impose a military solution on what is, in essence, an attempt to solve US economic problems by force of arms.

This past weekend (January 18, 2003), a protest held in Washington, DC, was reportedly attended by 250,000 people from all walks of American life. There were many other protests cities across America, including San Francisico, where organizers estimated that 200,000 attended the event.

David Lawrence is a member of EWA, and was for many years an anti-war activist and political organizer in Berkeley, California, and Washington, DC. He has degrees in Middle Eastern history from the University of California at Berkeley and Georgetown University.


email Home	Massive World-wide Protests Against US Invasion of Iraq by David Lawrence Millions of people around the globe, united in opposition to an impending U.S. invasion of Iraq, took to the streets on Feb. 15th and 16th chanting “No Attack on Iraq!” and “No Blood for Oil!”. Feb. 15 Anti-war rally in Osaka Between six and ten million people marched in over 60 countries--making these protests the largest anti-war gatherings since the Vietnam War. In Osaka, 1,000 people assembled at Ogimachi Park on Saturday afternoon, Feb. 15th, for a rally against the planned U.S. attack on Iraq. Protesters represented a wide range of the Osaka community, including unions, student organizations, and the international community. After listening to speakers condemn U.S. policy toward Iraq, people marched to the U.S. Consulate, where they stopped to chant and show their opposition to any American-led assault. The march proceeded to Osaka City Hall and disbanded. Around the world, people assembled and marched to protest the Bush Administration’s intention to further expand American hegemony in the Middle East. From New York to Sydney, Australia, and from Oslo, Norway, to Cape Town, South Africa, people united to tell the American government that they wanted no part in U.S. plans for war in the Middle East. Melbourne, Australia, saw the first action with 100,000-200,000 kicking off the international days of protest. In New York City, 500,000 gathered, despite city and federal government attempts to ban the protest and limit the march route. Protest numbers in other cities: 2 Million in London 1 Million in Rome - unofficial: 2 million 1.3 Million in Barcelona 800,000 in Madrid 500,000 in Berlin 400,000 in Paris 250,000 in San Francisco 250,000 in Sydney 200,000 in Damascus 150,000 in Montreal 100,000 in Adelaide 100,000 in Brisbane 100,000 in Dublin 100,000 in Glasgow 30,000-100,000 in Los Angeles 80,000 in Lisbon 60,000-75,000 in Seattle. 70,000 in Amsterdam 50,000 in Buenos Aires 50,000 in Montevideo 10,000 in Mexico City 6,000 in Tokyo 1,000 in Osaka On the day of a U.S.-led invasion against Iraq, people are asked to gather at the south side of Osaka City Hall at 6:00 pm. A march will proceed to the U.S. Consulate in Osaka to protest the attack. Feb. 15 Anti-war rally in Osaka The Crisis in the Middle East: Iraq, Palestinians and the US Quest for Oil by David Lawrence The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, gave the Bush Administration the pretext it needed to launch a new round of American imperial expansion in the Middle East. The New Year begins on an ominous note as America prepares for a global war without end by again invading Iraq and by expanding its global war against terrorism. While the stated military objective is to defeat terrorism, the economic goal is to secure vital oil reserves in the region. While 2001 ended with a massive bombing campaign and a military invasion aimed at overthrowing Taliban rule in Afghanistan and eliminating Al Qaeda in retaliation for the Sept. 11th attacks, 2002 saw the start of a world-wide US effort to crush local insurgencies from Palestine to the Philippines. In this new War on Terror” any resistance to oppressive social and economic conditions is labelled as a terrorist act--and any act of resistance against US allies is to be regarded as a terrorist act against the American state. The US reserves the right to unilaterally intervene. Concerning terrorism originating in the Middle East, beyond the need to teach a lesson to those who would dare to attack the economic and military nerve centers of the American empire, there is a very real need to secure Middle Eastern oil supplies in an era of increasing turmoil in that part of the world. Plans for the takeover of Middle Eastern oil fields go back to at least the early1980s; the political and economic elite in Washington, DC, and New York have never been happy about the wave of anti-colonial and nationalist revolutions which occurred during the 1950s and 1960s. Many of those upheavals ended in the nationalization of Middle Eastern oil with the profits going back to the nation and not into the pockets of western capitalists and their local ruling class lackeys. In the first of many US covert operations in the region, the CIA orchestrated a coup in Iran in 1953 in order to throw out the populist Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh. The plot was in reaction to Mossadegh’s nationalization of Iran’s oil resources and the ousting of the despot Shah. Up until Mossadegh’s nationalization, British oil interests had been taking a disproportionate amount of Iran’s oil profits. The people of Iran saw none of the profits from their oil wealth. It seems all but inevitable that Bush will send the US military into Iraq for the conclusion of Gulf War I. This coming confrontation is nothing more than the culmination of more than ten years of US-British aggression against Iraq. According to impartial estimates, more than 500,000 children have died as a result of sanctions imposed on Iraq after the end of the 1991 conflict. Now, with the “War on Terrorism” as the pretext and with a new generation of Americans having been spoon fed US propaganda demonizing Hussein, the Iraqi people face yet another onslaught. The justification for war is “regime change” and the destruction of whatever remains of the regime’s arsenal of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). The open secret, however, is that this is as much a war for oil as anything. Liberating the people of Iraq--or any other Middle Eastern nation for that matter-- from a despotic regime has never been high on any American administration’s “To Do” list. In fact, like many other US-supported dictators (Marcos of the Philippines, Noreiga of Panama, Mobuto of Zaire), Saddam Hussein was a trusted ally long before he became an enemy. It is only when one of our thugs crosses over the line, as Hussein did in 1990 when he invaded Kuwait, that he then becomes the enemy. While the list of the crimes of Saddam Hussein is indeed a long one, the US (and other Western nations) turned a blind eye, as long as he was furthering Western geo-political goals. Hussein’s crimes (war crimes against Iran during a decade-long war, the repression of the Kurds and other ethnic groups in Iraq, etc.) were ignored as long as Hussein was our goon. US and Western European governments and corporations supplied Hussein with the materials needed to manufacture WMD--and the Western “Merchants of Death” profited handsomely. In fact, it is hardly surprising that the 12,000 page document detailing the Iraqi WMD program which was recently handed over to the UN was quickly stolen and quickly edited by US officials. There are suspicions that this was done to hide facts concerning US and European involvment in Iraq WMD programs. For years, Hussein served US and European interests and they rewarded him handsomely. When he became a free-lance operator, he stepped over the line and was punished. If Hussein is ever apprehended, he might meet the same fate as Panamanian dictator Manuel Noreiga, who languishes in a US prison. Noreiga is kept in solitary confinement and denied press access. Thus, it is very difficult for independent sources to find out more about the very close relationship between this unsavory character and the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. Hussein’s close relationship with those administrations is an open secret. The present administration would prefer that inconvenient facts be erased. These facts have been known for years by people who study Western involvement in the Middle East. However, getting the facts out to the general American public in the face of hegemonic corporate media control is another story. Over the past year, the so-called “War on Terrorism” has resulted in a series of overt miltary interventions and covert operations which the American people have been toldvery little about: US troops invaded and occupied Afghanistan; “advisors” in counter-insurgency operations are operating in the Philippines; assassinations of suspected enemies have been carried out in Yemen. New US military bases have been set up in Central Asia, in the strategic Horn of Africa (Djibouti) and in the Gulf (Qatar). Other US bases in the region have been expanded for eventual US military operations in the Middle East and Southwest Asia. In Israel and the Occupied Territories, the second Intifadeh (uprising) against Israel's illegal occupation has turned into a low intensity war. When the US invades Iraq, many observers believe that Israel will initiate “ethnic cleansing” of the Palestinian population. In Israel, the concept of “Transfer” of the Palestinian population been openly discussed (although you will not hear anything about it in the American media). The Palestinian population is to be transported to Jordan. For Zionists, this would end--once and for all-- the 80 year old problem of Palestinian resistance to Israeli colonization and expropriation of Palestinian lands. The remaining indigenous Palestinian population (those which were not made refugees during the other Arab-Israeli wars of 1948, 1956, 1967, and 1973) would finally be dealt with during the fog of war in Iraq. From the perspective the officials in the Bush Administration, the attacks of Sept. 11th could not have come at a better time. American capitalism is in crisis. The US economy is in recession, the last two years have seen huge losses on the stock market (the worst since the Great Depression). The terrorist attacks forced the American public to focus on the external enemy. Attention was deflected from the internal crises (the highest level of poverty since the early 1960s; corporate corruption at the highest levels, involving members of the current Bush Administration; the downturns in the stock market and the Nasdaq; and the Bush Administration’s inability, indeed, unwillingness to initiate needed reforms of a corrupt economic system. In America, the buildup toward war and imperial expansion has served as a smokescreen to cover over the economic crisis. It also is seen as a way out of an economic quagmire in the making. The US will need massive imports of cheap oil in the future and direct control of Middle Eastern oil is seen as insuring unlimited supplies to the US. But preparations for this war for oil have not gone on without public opposition. While Americans are not as naive as they were at the outset of the US war against Vietnam, the vast majority of Americans know very little about the Middle East and the history of US covert and overt operations in the region. The corporate-owned media does its best to keep Americans uninformed about the region. Likewise, the fog of propaganda that Americans are exposed to daily has kept them in the dark about the nature of American imperialism, the growing threat of militarism and intervention abroad--and the growing threats of fascism and repression at home. Since last fall, there have been large demonstrations against US preparations for a war against Iraq. Americans have been mobilizing against the Bush administration’s attempt to impose a military solution on what is, in essence, an attempt to solve US economic problems by force of arms. This past weekend (January 18, 2003), a protest held in Washington, DC, was reportedly attended by 250,000 people from all walks of American life. There were many other protests cities across America, including San Francisico, where organizers estimated that 200,000 attended the event. David Lawrence is a member of EWA, and was for many years an anti-war activist and political organizer in Berkeley, California, and Washington, DC. He has degrees in Middle Eastern history from the University of California at Berkeley and Georgetown University. Internet Resources: Anti-war Organizations http://www.nion.us/ http://www.iacenter.org/ http://www.InternationalANSWER.org Educational Tools Addicted to War--Educational comic book on US Miitarism and war: http//:www.addictedtowar.com
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