bloody ante-chamber to a new world order? FEATURES now almost inevitable. Yet this has The announcement by President further 200,000 troops to the Gulf Bush that the US was sending a must signal to us all that war is
The Middle East is of huge strategic im- portance to the US, not least because it produces the majority of the world's oil. But war in the Gulf will not simply be Kuwait: there will be no quick or easy war for either side, reports been matched by 250,000 more Iraqi troops to be sent into GILL LEE.
military personnel to the Gulf to serve even in And as Marguet Thatcher recently naid of Furope and the Gulf crisis When it comes to non-combat roles: Instead Japan will pledge 54 billion dollars to pay for the US force: Ger many and the EC will cach provide S2 billion. taking practical seps you rely on the few countries that have heen used to acting' le Britain wid the US with Britain very much The erisis In the Gulf provides the im- perialist countries with the perfect excuse for retaining their arsenals after the Cold War. The need to defend the free world" from naked ngression has been promoted widely as a reason for the War, Of course this complete. • Kuwait was governed by an unelected • Its population was in a majority com- Page 7 • The main Arsh ally of the imperialist powers in this war, Saudi Arabia, is ruled hy in the last 8 years, but hax continued to arm Ismael to the hilt, despite the Zionists' refusal to reconise the right of the another unclected monarchy, whose barbarous regime rests on repression through Koranic And these statements aboul defence against aggressor come from the same country, the USA, which has not only invaded the sovereignly of two countries — Grenada Imperialist arsenals posed of immigrant workers taking the suborilinate role. aggressors ly Ignores koy facts; rights of citizenship against Stalinism they are corroct The economies of deformed by the burcaucratic mismanagement simply to compare them with the cconomies sub continent, East Asia and Latin America wealth of these imperialist countries rests on the poverty and hunger of a great part of the world's population — in Africa, the Indian have been held back and of the Stalinist system. But people are wrong of the US, Wester Europe and Japan. The as well as on the oppression of the working Between 1980 and 1988 for example, the West sucked 5200 billion out of the Third World. The war currently being engineered by the US and its allies In the Gulf is about en- suring its right to go on with this degree of ex- The intervention by the US in the Gulf and its sucesses so far in pulling in behind its: project all the other impenalist countries, is US imperialism is once again using its also about the role of the US vis a vis other military might to compensate for its declining cconomic position vis a vis Japan and a Gier- man led Europe, In exchange for protecting the imperialist order militarily, the IS expects The new Europe is not in a position to do this and nor is Japan. Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu of Japan has been forced by public tion allowing the dispatch of Japanese opinion to handon his fight to pass legisla financial kickhacks in the form of trade ad class in the imperialist countries themselves. Baker and Shevadnadze vote as one imperialist countries. these states SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 29, December/January 1990/91 about oil It will be a decisive statement by the US on the pew world order it wants to see emerging after the Cold That new world order is still taking shape. the crisis of Stalinism The crisis of the Stalinist countries means has not been slow to take advantage of this: Is form depends on the resolution and inter that only one superpower remains with both posc its policies internationally. And the US The stakes for imperialism and for the in- lemutional working class are at least an high The Gulf crisis is about the USA reassert- ing its role as glohal policeman for the im that no ex- colonial country Foels free to Oles Its muscles nam the US was unable to intervene when it agamst Cuban troops: in Angoln in 1976— against the overthrow of the military might and the political will to im- the Shah of Ian in 1978 or against the Since 1982 the ITS has been working hard to reassent its authority, and has managed to get away with the invasion of Grenada in coming the Vietnam syndrome at home and US to intervene as it sees fit in the colonial For a whole period after its defeat in Viet But war in the Gulf is not just aboot over- reasserting af a political level the right of the The ability of the US In intervene Into the tinued ecomomic development. When people talk of the poverty of the states emerging from sent-colonial world is essential for its con in the Gulf as they were in the Vietnam War. situation and assert that will and that might. in the way Saddam has done over Kuwait. and the crisis of the imperialist order. Global Policeman perialist cruntries; ensuring Nicaraguan revolution in 1979, 1982 and of Panama in 1989. and semi-onlonial world. relation of two crises wanted as it wanted War.
FEATURES Palestinian massos to their own country: tion. How much force have the western powers used to ensure that Israel carries out UN decisions on Palestine? None! On the contrary they have encouraged Israel's arrogance and eriminal disregard for the self-determination of the Palestinian We know that these imperialist powers care nothing for the rights of anyone bur of 'Hitler'-like Saddam to fight the widespread demand for cuts in arms spending and a peace dividend follow. ing the end of the Cold War. Saddam will be used by them ax a popular rationale for and ignoring UN resolutions on this ques- themselves. But they will use the excuse the retention of a huge arms budget. people.
Three trillion dollars of arms are cur- The crisis is already costing the US $1 bil- lion a month and in the event of a shoot- ing war this will rise to $1 billion a day. rently stationed in the Gulf ready for use; $1 billion a month
SOCIALIST OUTLOOK nD 29, December/January 1990/91 that the new world order which ariscs out of Soviet burcacracy with the imperialists, the creasingly likely that a war in the Gulf, like the Korcan War, will be fought by US im- But we do believe that having someone of Benn's stature opposing the war is incredibly Only through building such a movement can socialists begin to play a role in cosuring perialism is one which is to the henefit of the The curreut crisis of the Tory party would by the Labour Party to the strategy pursued by the Tories on the Gulf. Instead we hear more opposition to the war plans from Ted In this context, it is even more important that there is a small group of Labour MP's in the Campaign Group opposed to the war Socialist Outlook thinks that Tony Beun is wrong to have faith in the United Nations and believe it can be used as a block to war. Given the new "historic compromise of the UN is now more than ever simply an instru- ment of imperialist forcign policy. It lonks in- important in building a mass anti-war move- geois parties of the Democrats and the of a debate in the USA beiween the two hour- Republicans than there is in Britsin between he deepened If there were strong opposition perialist troops in the blue helmets of the UN. the current crises of Stalinism working class, not the hourgeoisic. United Nations Benn's visit to Irag is signiheant. the Tories and the Labour Party! Heath than from Neil Kinnock! housing, education, and health care — US troops -how long before the body bags come home? the craven capitulation of the Labour Party to hegun, bur slowly. In October nearly 10,000 national level, the lack of opposition to, in- deed collusion of the Soviet burcaucracy with the West's plans has nicant there has been no And in Britain in particular we have seen the Tories' bellicose posturing. There is more imperialist powers. Anti-war mobilisations have intensified interationally. In many of the Arab countries the populations are ex- tremely unhappy about the complicity of their rulers with the US war drive. In Japan 23,000 people protested. In France 12,000 marched to demand the withdrawal of French troops. In Italy a huge demonstration of more thun 100,000 marched on October 7 to protest the ched in New York while demonstrations were In Britain the anti-war mobilisation has marched. In Novemher beiween 15,000 and But there are two main obstacles to build- ing a higger anti-war movement. On an inter- after an Iragi withdrawal from Kuwai. However it still looks unlikcly that Saddam will withdraw. His occupation of Kuwait was hased on his desperate need to shore up his harbarous regime in the face of its own massive economic crisis, Withdrawal The only other way that war in the Middle East can be averted is through a massive reac- lied Arab countrics against the actions of the logic of war'. In the USA, 20,000 people mar- tion across the imperialist world and in the al Gorbachev's collusion and defeat would mean his overtlow, altemative voice on the question. held in 17 other cities. 20,000 demonstrated. after an pursued tial reduction of tray's military apparatus, it is chemical weapons plants could release into risk that should Saddam himself launch a chemical attack, the West will respond with Icash an environmental catastrophe affecting So can war in the Middle East be averted? Only two things can now prevent the US un- leashing on Iraq the biggest force assembled The first is retreat by Saddan. While the American war aims in the Gulf go much fur- ther than Tray's reteat from Kuwait, and in- clude the overthrow of Saddam and substan- possible that the USA's Arah allies may tell Bush they do not feel able to contain the anger of their own masses should war still be But what of the other human cost of such a estimates talk of 30,000 allied casualties in tant Secretary of Defence talks of a quick war. mainly fought from the air. "This would in- volve the bombing of Iraq's missiles, air force. command structure' he wrote in the Guardian The casualties of such a bombardment would be immense and would of course in- clude thousands of Iraqi civilians. Bombing of the atmosphere tons of lethal nerve gasses, possibly resulting in several tragedies on the scale of Bhopal. And of course there is the nuclear weapons. War in the Gulf could un war: the dead and the injured? Conservative the first ten days. Richard Perle, Tonner Assis: chemical and tucicar weapons industrial facilities, and much of Saddam's control and tempts to make the workers pay for the crisis. perfect excuse for it and for the accom- powers are heading into, and provide a panying cuts in social expenditure — in which will go with it as the ruling class at- housing, cducation, and health care — Expenditure on the war will both deepen the recession the US and other Westem countless generations to come. since the D-Day landing. recently. Page 8
end of hostilities it is openly allying itself questioning the anti imperialist credentials of president, Rafsanjani is war it sought to buy American arms, through No wonder the rank and file of the Islamic the shilting positions of the ruling faction are Iranian leaders while revolutionary guands that they will depart from the region, "once Kuwait is liberated'. The United States was looking for an excure to justily military penalism in the region. Yet even during the the Irangale deal. Now two years after the movemeht, confused and disillusioned with stupid cnough to believe the American claim with imperialisa to punish Saddam Hussein. arc volunteering to go and defend Iraq Gulf: the