Puppets, black gold and tyranny,
the imperialist armies are gonna hit the middle east... again

In 2001 our current great and glorious leader of the “free world” came to power. With a little ballot rigging here and there and huge amounts of corporate cash, George W. Bush became president of the United States of America.

He was hugely unpopular with the American public until September 11th, when the US was the victim of a horrific terrorist attack which - like all reactionary tactics - got the perpetrators nowhere. It provided the US government with a perfect and timely excuse to “bring order to the world” or in other words embark on the biggest wave of Empire building the world has witnessed since the 19th Century.

First came Afghanistan and the deaths of over four thousand civilians directly killed by American bombs. The result? The creation of an undemocratic state nominally headed by America’s puppet, Hamid Karzai. Now America is planning to embark on its new adventure. They want “regime change” in Iraq and they will use massive military force to get it.

Why is America - the world’s wealthiest country - prepared to risk the lives of 250,000 American troops in a bid to topple Saddam Hussein from power? George Bush would have you believe that it is because he has Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). This argument is hypocritical: America is after all the only country in the world ever to used a WMD in war. Also, it implies that Iraq is the only nation in the Middle East to have such weapons. It is well known that Israel, America’s key ally in the region, has had nuclear weapons for years.

Bush has reminded the world that Saddam used poison gas against the Kurds in Halabja in 1988. This was a terrible act, yet the US and Britain knew about it at the time and continued to supply Saddam with weapons afterwards. The Scott Inquiry revealed that soon after the attack, Washington approved the export to Iraq of virus cultures and a $1bn contract to design and build a petrochemical plant where the Iraqis planned to produce mustard gas. And while the Reagan administration publicly condemned the use of chemical weapons during the eight-year Iraq-Iran war, the US army was secretly supplying Iraq with bomb-damage assessments and detailed information on Iranian troop deployments.

No, this war is about “black gold”. It is about wealth and so it is about power. Iraq has the second largest known oil reserves in the world. The Middle East itself dominates world oil exports accounting for a colossal 47% of the market.

The major issue for American capitalism is whether the Middle East can remain a stable provider of cheap oil over the next twenty years. Oil is essential to America’s economy and the maintenance of profits of the capitalists. This addiction to “black gold” has consequences for all of us who live, work and study in the West.

The giant oil multinationals like Esso who bankrolled Bush’s bid for presidency will reap massive profits from stealing oil from a defeated and occupied Iraq.

Whereas the wealth created from the winnings of a war in Iraq is a key factor behind this new imperialism, it is not the main reason. Oil is strategically a vital asset and America - in the same way that its military are always after “full spectrum dominance” in terms of military power - also wants to further their control of the global oil market. Any state that stepped out of line could be potentially crippled because America could just turn off the flow of oil. At the same time, America wants to make sure that this power doesn’t reside with anyone else.

That’s why the American imperialists are scared. They are scared that their power is slipping. They look at the despotic Saudi royals who the US supports and see a regime that is despised by its population and shows an increasing tendency for Islamic militancy. Fifteen of the hijackers on September 11th came from Saudi Arabia and Bin Laden’s Al-Qaida organisation has received funding from sections of the Saudi royal family.

As in Afghanistan, America will inevitably install its own man in power if it is victorious in the upcoming war in Iraq. The lip service the White House pays to democracy and freedom is sickening when we see the consequences these “crusades for justice” have upon the people they are suppose to “liberate”.

But victory is by no means assured. The Middle East is already one of the most volatile regions in the World. America can expect huge civil unrest across the region that could potentially topple some of its corrupt friends. During the last Gulf War Israel was attacked with scud missiles by Iraq, but remained neutral due to American pressure. This time however it has made no such promises and, in fact, has said it would retaliate. Were Israel to get involved it could potentially bring other Middle Eastern nations into a conflict further derailing America’s chances of victory.

And what about Britain’s role in all this? Tony Blair would like us to think that we must join in an invasion of Iraq because it has been in breach of UN council resolutions. This smacks of hypocrisy. Israel has been in breach of similar resolutions for the 35 years it has occupied the West Bank and Gaza, yet is one of our “friends” in the Middle East.

Tony Blair has said that he will support military action. If he does, he will be greeted by one of the biggest protest movements this country has ever seen. Should American soldiers begin returning to the States in body bags, rest assured that a movement of similar size will mushroom across the pond. Wherever you are, in Iraq, Britain, the US, Palestine: resist the imperialist aggression. The imperialists must be defeated.

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Capitalism creates war

The truth about Iraq

Puppest, black gold and tyranny

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