> No to Imperialist War! No to Imperialist Peace!
>
> Hands Off Iraq!
>
> It appears that a U.S. imperialist war against
Iraq has been temporarily
> averted. The new agreement, accepted by Iraq under
the threat that the U.S.
> would pound it with thousands of warplanes, ships,
troops, etc., forces Iraq
> to open its sites to "UN inspectors." But the U.S.
can threaten Iraq again any
> time it declares that Iraq is "not in compliance"
with the agreement, for
> example, if it wants to look in Iraq's Presidential
files for "weapons of mass
> destruction."
> Thus a threat of imperialist war is becoming a
period of imperialist peace.
> The great international working class leader Lenin
pointed out that "war is
> the continuation of the politics of peace and peace
is the continuation of the
> politics of war."
> The current agreement, like the ones signed after
the 1991 Gulf War, are
> unequal treaties that violate Iraq's sovereignty.
They were signed as the
> result of a war which subjected Iraq to months of
bombings that killed
> hundreds of thousands of people. The subsequent
sanctions, which deprived Iraq
> of basic foods and medicines, have led to the
deaths of another 1.5 million,
> mainly women, children and elderly people. The U.S.
has also given itself the
> right to deny the Iraqi government access to
certain areas, such as the
> Kurdish region in the north as well as the "no-fly
zone" in the south.
> All Clinton's talk about simply wanting Iraq to
comply with its agreements
> are irrelevant, since these were unequal treaties
imposed by force. His talk
> of the need for Iraq to give up its "weapons of
mass destruction" is an
> attempt to force Iraq to give up its ability to
defend itself. The capitalist
> press, which follows the lead of its capitalist
masters, conceals the fact
> that it is U.S. imperialism that, more than any
other country, has produced,
> exported and used such weapons. Let us remember
that the U.S. is the only
> country in the world to have used nuclear weapons,
when it bombed Hiroshima
> and Nagasaki at the end of World War 2,
annihilating some 200,000 people. It
> is the U.S. that has used chemical weapons in the
form of napalm and Agent
> Orange in Vietnam. And it is most likely that U.S.
weapons (possibly depleted
> uranium) have caused the unexplained illness known
as "Gulf War syndrome"
> affecting thousands of U.S. troops and untold
numbers of Iraqis.
> The U.S. war and war threats against Iraq are not
in the interest of U.S.
> workers or of ordinary soldiers. U.S. soldiers are
mainly workers in uniform,
> who have been forced by lack of jobs paying a
living wage to join the armed
> forces. The war only benefits the U.S. monopolies,
especially the oil
> monopolies, who benefit from Iraq's inability to
sell oil not controlled by
> U.S. companies. The U.S. also wants to show the
other imperialist governments,
> in Western Europe and Japan, that it is the number
one power, that it
> dominates not only Iraq but the whole Middle East,
economically, politically
> and militarily. While the government claims it must
cut back on social
> services (education, health care, welfare) for
working people, it has no
> problem finding billions of dollars for war and
preparations for war against
> oppressed countries like Iraq. Our fight is against
our own monopoly
> capiptalist ruling class, not against Iraq.
> No Attacks Against Iraq!
> End All Sanctions!
> Defend Iraq's Sovereignty!
> Our Fight Is At Home Against Our Own Exploiters!
>
> Marxist-Leninist Organizer
> P.O. Box 1854
> Manhattanville Sta.
> New York, NY 10027