No Way Out in Iraq for U.S. Imperialists - Only Defeat Lies Ahead

The imperialist media are trumpeting the purported “death” of al-Queda of Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as a supposed great victory in their phony “war on terror.” We have heard this same song again and again. But the fundamental facts of this unjust and immoral occupation keep crashing down on the aggressors and their media handmaids, and so they will yet again. Oppression breeds resistance. The Iraqi people have not and will not submit to the plans of imperialism to turn their country into a vassal and a showcase of so-called Westernization.

But let us address the case of Zarqawi, and his role in the Iraqi political scene. Al-Queda of Iraq is not the main enemy of the Iraqi people – the U.S. imperialist occupation forces are; however, it must be made absolutely clear that Zarqawi is a reactionary, an enemy of the people of Iraq. Zarqawi’s group has hindered, and not helped the consolidation of an all-Iraqi resistance to occupation. We saw glimmers of this potential unity during the genocidal siege of Falluja in 2004. While this predominantly Sunni city was being bombarded around the clock, Iraqi Shia Muslims lined up to donate blood to the victims of the slaughter. Link Also, the Shia Muslim Sadrist movement stepped up its struggle against occupation forces. The Zarqawi group’s indiscriminate attacks against non-Sunni segments of the Iraqi people plays very well into the plans of imperialism to exercise its strategy of divide and rule. Zarqawi’s notion of religious war against infidels bears an ideological similarity to Bush’s Christian fascist “crusade.”

Children are continually targeted by the U.S. imperialist occupation forces

It appears that the main forces of the Sunni religious fighters in Iraq have rejected Zarqawi’s strategy of killing masses of non-Sunni Iraqis. In early April, numerous media sources including BBC relayed reports from a leading pro-al-Queda figure that Zarqawi had been removed from his leadership position due to dissatisfaction with his war strategy and tactics, and had been replaced by an Iraqi figure. Link If Zarqawi was indeed killed, it is quite possible that Zarqawi was betrayed by his colleagues so that the U.S. could accomplish their task of eliminating him.

When Saddam Hussein was captured in late 2003, the imperialist media were overjoyed - they were certain that “now that they didn’t have to be afraid of Saddam coming back to power,” Iraqis would come out in support of the occupation forces. Of course, in reality, the resistance only at this time began to crystallize into a formidable force militarily. Saddam Hussein’s freedom in Iraq was actually a brake on the development of the struggle, because so many Iraqis did not wish to be identified with Ba’athism politically. So too Zarqawi’s presence has been a brake on the struggle, alienating the masses with reactionary attacks on the rights of the people and mass killings at places of worship, and so on.

The imperialist spokespersons are now flush with a seeming “victory” by allegedly liquidating one individual, who, as noted, has been detrimental to the development of the fight against imperialist occupation. If the real strategists of imperialism actually believe such talk, they are seriously deluded, and lack clear heads. This is a struggle which has no victory for U.S. imperialism. Some ruling class forces already recognize this, and are calling for “Iraqization,” and the withdrawal of U.S. forces to nearby Kuwaiti and Qatari bases, from which they can bomb and kill at a safe distance.

But no matter which strategy the U.S. adopts, it cannot achieve the objectives delineated by Bush, and that is because the Iraqi people will not accept it. The masses are the makers of history. Countries want independence, nations want liberation, and people want revolution. In war, people, and not weapons, are the principle aspect. This was a lesson taught to U.S. imperialism by the people of Indochina - others will forever accept the job of re-teaching that lesson, if need be.