stakes Playing for in the Gulf about re-establishing its right to in- frontation with Saddam Hussein is and his military advisors, the con- For US president George Bush world to protect and further its tervene wherever it likes in the
1982 the United States syndrome' at home, and to US invasion of vene abroad. The has been work- ing hard to over- tum the 'Viet- militarily inter- Since nam While war is not yet inevitable, it is in- ing a direct strengthening of its forces there, overthrowing the Saddam regime, and decisively weakening the Iraqi military apparatus. And it is hard to see will leave the Gulf region without ensur- creasingly hard to believe that the U.S. own economic and political inter- how this can be done without war. Global policemen ests, reports GILL LEE. and
time when the US is heading into recession and the American industrial empire is in sharp decline against the Japanese economy and German competition, the Gulf crisis gives the sage to the world: America may not be the but it is still the world's policeman, and other countries which ad- Through its role in the Gulf crisis, the US hopes to display to other imperialist countries steps, then you rely on the few countries which have been used to acting in this way'. America's intervention in the Gulf is 'European' mitary policy, and also the role text of this debate on the emerging new world Page 9 US the opportunity to send out a simple mes- pay its continuing pre-eminance as a world power. "The EC has the foreign policy coopera- tion, but when it comes to taking the practical linked to the future of NATO and of possible of Japan as a major imperialist power. The decision to send Japanese support troops to teh Gulf, and the discussions in Japan and in Germany on changing their constitutions to enable them to intervene militarily outside their own borders have to be seen in the con- War in the Gulf would also provide an benefit from its policing role should America for its protection, in trade Margaret Thatcher expressed it like this: Excuse for cuts vantages if not in hard currency. economic powerhouse, American troops fighting for profit not democracy (Newsweek October 8) order. at home in the US or on the island itself. This was largely due to the demobilising effect of Jewel Movement, confused solidarity forces abroad and disarmed the Grenadan masses The creation by Carter and then Reagan of the Coard faction which took over the New politically in the face of U.S. aggression. This easy victory laid the ground for a turnaround in the ability of the U.S. to intervene militarily a new Rapid Deployment Force and then its deployment in the Gulf to protect Western oil supplies during the Iran/Iraq War encountered little political resistance, and accustomed the U.S. public to seeing American forces employed in the Gulf region. Then in 1989 the U.S. was able to invaded Panama, at a cost of some 7000 civilian lives, to arrest dictator Noriega and defend the American hold on the Panama Canal zone, arousing hardly a flicker of international or domestic opposition. With mongers know a successful intervention in the tiges of the anti-war movement in the West and to any blossoming nationalist moments a-vis other major imperialist powers. At a these sucesses under their belts, US war- Gulf would deal a decisive blow to the ves The Gulf crisis is also about the reor- ganisation of the imperialist military system after the Cold War and the role of the US vis- Capacity to intervene in the colonial or semi-colonial world. SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 28, November 1990 The US is out to prove it can play the role of global policeman for the imperialist countries, ensuring that no colonial or semi colonial country feels free to break out of the wealthy western powers. The outcome of the current struggle will determine the extent of purely subordinate role assigned it by the US dominance over the world, especially the The complicity of the USSR and China has only strengthened the resolve of the im- perialists to take decisive action and has al- lowed them to use the smokescreen of the United Nations and sanctions to hide their blatantly war mongering intentions. In taking on one of the best-armed "Third World' countries, the U.S, is sending an unambiguous message to all other colonial and semi- colonial countries: stay in your place and For a whole period after its defeat in the Vietnam War, US imperialism was not able to intervene where it wanted, as it wanted. When gola against South Africa in 1976, the US could do nothing. The 1978 overthrow of the Shah of Iran was a further blow to the Americans, who watched helplessly as their main ally in the region was overthrown. Then the US Govemment had to endure the humiliating spectacle of the Iranian hostages affair and the debacle of Carter's helicopters exploding in a farcical attempt to rescue them. In Nicaragua the 1979 overthrow of another old ally of the U.S., the bloody dictator Cuba sent troops to fight on the side of An- Third World', over the next period. don't get greedy.
FEATURES Blaming Iraq for century witches for the ideal excuse for the cuts in social spending the U.S. Government will need in the im- recession. What better scapegoat for cuts in welfare than the need to defend the West against a 'Hitler- like' figure intent on hiking up the world the looming Western recession is of course. like blaming fifteenth high price of stakes. and 1988 the West sucked 1980 price of oil? Between pending
as for the Arab masses generally, Israel is a region, the chance that imperialist intervention may result in a rise of the Arab masses against mitted foreigners to use Arab countries as a However, the United States is also afraid from Kuwait with his military strength intact, an undiminished appetite for conquest, and his cessfully forcing the Americans to the negotiating table over the Palestinian ques- tion. This fear may force the Americans into War in the Gulf, whether begun through imperialist invasion of Kuwait, or aerial bom- bardment of the major cities and strategic locations within Iraq itself, will certainly in- It may also involve the horrendous destruction through chemical and nuclear weapons of the environment affecting the whole of the Gulf It will reinforce a reactionary world order, and set back the struggle of the workers movement internationally and the struggles of tion. That's why the struggle must be stepped up for the withdrawal of all imperialist troops to war. Muslim ground troops, 60-70,000 strong and with 200 to 300 tanks form the al- lied front-line against Iraq. For these troops, One of the fears of the imperialists in pur- suing their war plans in the Gulf is the pos- the U.S. and their own rulers, who have per- that Saddam Hussein may be able to withdraw prestige in the Arab World heightened by suc- volve the deaths of thousands of Americans, and possibly hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. all oppressed nationalities for self determina- SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 28, November 1990 considering war the only available option. (and their stooge "allies") from the Gulf. sibility of a generalised 'Intifada' Fear of withdrawal region and generations to come. more familiar enemy than Iraq. base to fight an anti-Iraq war. nuclear weapons systems and one of their the ground using their billion-dollar night military might that is waiting to flatten Iraq most 'dove-like' of the U.S. establishment Arabia and paid for by Kuwait, Saudi-Arabia, Another section of the US establishment could go nuclear within two years. For this section of the American establishment, there is initial impressions, even push the Gulf closer Britain's 7th Armoured Brigade, the so- called 'Desert Rats", are equipped with three senior officers recently claimed, in the Obser- ver that if British forces are attacked with chemical weapons, they will respond with The revelation that US Air Command had to ground all its planes for a day because too many pilots were unable to tell the sky from sights should not blind us to the enormous Although discussion continues within the US Government about the relative political and financial costs of invasion versus negotia- tion, it is clear that the Americans will not leave the region as they found it. Even the dam Hussein replaced, and a permanent force of US soldiers stationed in the Gulf. For ex- ample Time magazine suggests a 'trip-wire' force of 25,000 troops stationed in Saudi- clearly wants to see the destruction of the whole of the Iraqi military machine, believing it to represent a rival power to Israel in the region, especially if, as seems likely, Iraq "Linkage' of the invasion of Kuwait with the Palestinian question in Israel may, despite want to see Iraq withdraw from Kuwait, Sad- Ousting Saddam no altemative to war with Iraq. American bomber armed with free-fall nuclear bombs should the decision be taken. carry nuclear warheads. Europe and Japan. Iran because of their fear of the subversive be- haviour of Khomeini's regime. However, it was still Iraq which paid the heaviest price: 300,000 dead and $300 billion in war costs, 660 billion of which is still outstanding in debts. It was partly in response to this debt and million that Iraq invaded Kuwait in the first The US attempt to impose its rule the Gulf will of course cost it dear. Even without a war, the cost of maintaining 200,000 US troops in he Gulf is estimated at $1 billion a month. dynamic, but it is clear that cut-backs were on Given the looming recession, there is now one area of government spending which is guaranteed free of cuts: arms expenditure. For all the western powers who were facing the problem of how to explain to their populations that they wanted to hold onto their weapons despite the end of the Cold War, the Gulf establishments and the economic sacrifice justified. As the editor of one glossy arms The US alone already has a trillion dollars worth of equipment in the region, inluding 11,910 aircraft and 300 helicopters with its aircraft alone outnumbering Iraqi airpower by three to one. The four US carrier fleets operat- ing in the Gulf are equipped with nuclear weapons. The US A7 and F18 strike bombers are armed with free-fall nuclear bombs, and battleships are also equipped with Tomahawk and Cruise missiles, both of which to the cost of retaining a standing army of 1 This will certainly add to a recessionary crisis is a golden opportunity. Huge military necessary to retain them, can now be easily magazine expressed it: 'Well done, Saddam!' $1 billion dollars a month the way even before the Gulf crisis. among others, backed some $200 billion out of the Third World. im- powers, together with Kuwait Arabia Iraq in its war with Wester Saudi perialist The place. and
rate weighted to urban consumers, while their fields, riverbanks and footpaths are seeded Angola is now the amputee capital of the world with over 50,000 victims, mostly non- combatant women and children. One and a half million rural people out of the 9.2 million population have fled to the towns in the last while Even the MPLA's traditional base amongst now threatened by austerity