Many people in the West have seen the film “Apocalypse Now". Only very few Iraqis probably have. However, they are experiencing “Apocalypse Now” in real life, with horrific consequences.
Contrary to the ridiculous claims of Bush and his generals that security in Iraq is improving (it has permanently improved since May 2003, hasn’t it?), hundreds have died in the last few weeks alone. According to the official figures of the pro-American Iraqi Interior Ministry, the death rate of Iraqi civilians and police officers has averaged over 800 a month between August 2004 and May 2005. In other words, Iraq is officially experiencing every month 16 times what London suffered on 7th July!
Naturally the bourgeois media denounce all this as terrorism, Islamist fanatics following “an evil ideology” (as the empty words of the empty demagogue Tony Blair suggest). In reality what we see in Iraq today are a series of justified armed attacks of the Iraqi national resistance against the imperialist occupation and their Iraqi lackeys. No one can deny the right of the Iraqi people to fight back against the imperialist oppressors in the same way as the Algerians did against the French colonialists or the Vietnamese against the USA.
However, this is only part of the story, albeit a very important part thqt pro-imperialist journalists and politicians would like to ignore. But there are also a number of bomb attacks which have a deeply reactionary character since they are directed against civilians – often Shiite workers or peasants.
To the extent that this is happening at all, it is the direct result of imperialist policy, imposing a constitution which doles out titles and promises rewards if people identify with and vote for parties of their religious or ethnic grouping. This disgusting policy has been tried and tested in Lebanon, Northern Ireland, Bosnia. It has always led to a tightening of the grip of foreign powers over the population and a weakening of the class struggle against exploitation.
If sectarian civil war – Sunni against Shiite, Arab against Kurd, etc. – ever came to be the predominant characteristic of the conflict in Iraq, then it would be both US imperialism’s fault and a disaster for the Iraqi people. That’s why working class and socialist forces in Iraq must condemn sectarian killings, while aiding the anti-imperialist insurgency.
Naturally it is very difficult for us to assess the true nature of those responsible for these disgusting actions. It is quiet possible that the reactionary terrorist group of Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi – al-Qa’ida in Iraq – is behind these attacks. However, it is also possible that such attacks are committed by the reactionary forces of the government, which is increasingly relying on death squads, called “Special Police Commandos", like the Wolf Brigade.
The Iraqi resistance has always denounced attacks against civilians. And according to a study of the US Defense Intelligence Agency throughout 2003 and 2004 more than three-quarters of all attacks in Iraq were against the occupation troops and their puppets.
This estimate has been backed up by Iraqi Body Count (http://www.iraqbodycount.net/), who estimate nearly 25,000 police and civilians killed in the first two years of occupation. Their meticulous account (the US/UK continue to flout the Geneva Convention by refusing to keep figures) shows that the occupation forces killed 9,270 civilians and the insurgency 2,353, of whom 977 were police.
Fallujah up in arms again
In fact the resistance is growing in strength. It is growing again in areas where the US propagandists claimed boastfully to have rooted it out. The New York Times reported (15 July) a new round of attacks on US troops in Fallujah.
Fallujah was a city of 300.000 people and often called the “City of Mosques". In 2004 it became the heart of the resistance and was faced with two sieges and invasions by the US Marines in February and November. The second time they succeeded in conquering the city after the heaviest urban battles for US troops since Vietnam.
To achieve this the occupation forces brought into action their full horrific arsenal of modern weaponry. As a result half the town was destroyed and another quarter suffered heavy damages. At least 1,500 Iraqis were killed and most of the population was driven out.
A month later only 30,000 Iraqis – one tenth of the former population – were still living in Fallujah. Since then the city is occupied by 4.300 Marines and transformed into a police state. Curfew is at 10 p.m. and checkpoints have been set up around the city where every Iraqi entering must show an ID-card and endure a search.
Despite this, the New York Times reports that the resistance is growing again. It quotes Lt. Col. Rip Miles, executive officer of Regimental Combat Team 8, the Marine unit charged with controlling the Fallujah area: “Rightly or wrongly, Fallujah means something". The insurgents “believe it’s valuable to them".
Clearly Fallujah – despite all the horror inflicted by the US imperialists – is up in arms again. A city not beaten! The occupation forces are coming under attack also in other towns, which they “liberated” from the resistance half a year ago like, for example in Samarra.
Oil workers on strike
But not only is the armed resistance on the rise; the working class is too. 15,000 Southern Oil Company workers from the General Union of Oil Employees – Iraq’s largest independent union – staged a 24-hour strike on 17 July 2005, cutting most oil exports from the south of Iraq.
According to the union’s website (http://www.basraoilunion.org/) the strike “was in support of demands made by Basra Governor Mohammad al-Waili – reflective of the wishes of the vast majority of Basra’s residents – for a higher percentage of Southern oil revenue to be ploughed back into Basra’s local economy. Basra’s sewage system, electricity grid and medical services are still damaged and running at limited capacity. Despite being the capital of Iraq’s oil reserves, the governorate is still struggling with entrenched poverty, malnutrition and an unemployment rate of 40%."
The union is also fighting for the removal of high-ranking Baathist managers in the Southern Oil Company (SOC) and regime loyalists serving in the Ministry of Oil. The union has given the Ministry of Oil until 1 January 2006 to comply. It is also calling for an increase in workers wages: “According to the Media and Culture Officer, Faraj Rabat Mizbhan, the basic starting pay for an Iraqi soldier is 700,000 ID (£270) per month whilst a senior oil worker with 30 years service is being paid on average 400,000 ID (£150)."
A new constitution – a new manoeuvre of the occupation forces
After the Bush administration’s failed attempt to pacify Iraq by holding elections, it now promises that the decisive turn-around will come about after the elaboration and adoption of a new constitution. A 71-member committee is working on the constitution. Besides the dominant political Shiite supporters of grand Ayatollah al-Sistani and Kurdish pro-American nationalists, it also has 17 prominent Sunni Arabs. This is clearly an attempt by the occupation forces to bring the Sunni bourgeoisie on board.
What is becoming clear is that the new constitution under discussion includes elements of reactionary Sharia law. Sistani supporters are pushing hard for laws controlling personal conduct (marriage, divorce, inheritance, alimony, and so forth) to be put under the jurisdiction of the religious courts.
A Shiite woman sent to a Shiite court judge for an inheritance case would typically receive only half the inheritance that her brother would! This would be “liberation” à la Bush – in a country where women once played an important role in professional life as scientists, teachers, politicians and so on.
To underline the fact that this latest attempt at “normalisation” is far from guaranteed success, the resistance recently assassinated three of the Sunni Arabs members of the constitution committee. Clearly there can’t be any peace as long as the occupation continues. The sooner it ends the better for the Iraqi people.
* Support the struggle of the oil workers!
* Imperialist troops out now!
* Unconditional support for the Iraq resistance against the occupation!
* No to reactionary sectarian attacks on Iraqi civilians!
* For free elections without occupation, for a Constitutional Assembly!
* No to nationalism and Islamism – for international working class solidarity!
* For a new revolutionary working class party in Iraq!
* From national liberation to socialist revolution! For a workers and peasant republic of Iraq in a socialist federation of the Middle East!