Counter Information #31 - Supplement

4 Pages·1991·4.2 MB·English

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TEN DAYS THAT SHOOK IRAQ
Inside information from an uprising
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The Gulf war was not ended by the military victory of Basra is one of the most secular areas in the Middle
America and the Allies. It was ended by the mass East. Almost no one goes to the mosques in Basra.
desertion of thousands of Iraqi conscript soldiers. So The radical traditions in this area are not those of
overwhelming was the refusal to fight for the Iraqi Islamic fundamentalism but rather those of Arab
state on the part of its conscripted army that, contrary Nationalism and Stalinism. The Iraqi Communist Party
to all predictions, not one Allied soldier was killed by is the only bourgeois party with any significant
hostile fire in the final ground offensive to recapture influence in this region. The cities of Basra, Nasriah
Kuwait. Indeed the sheer scale of this mutiny is and Hilah have long been known as the region of the
perhaps unprecedented in modern military history. Communist Party and have a long history of open
rebellion against both religion and the state. The
But these mutinous troops did not simply flee back to "Iraqi" working class has always been one of the most
Iraq. On their return many of them turned their guns troublesome in a volatile region.
against the Iraqi state, sparking a simultaneous uprising
in both Southern Iraq and in Kurdistan to the North. In the North, there is little sympathy for the
Only the central region of Iraq surrounding Baghdad Nationalist parties - the KDP and the PUK - and their
remained firmly in the state's hands in the weeks peshmergas (guerilla movements) due to their repeated
following the end of the war. failure of their compromises with the Iraqi state. This
is particularly true in the Sulaimania area. The
From the very start the Western media has grossly inhabitants of the area have been especially hostile to
misrepresented these uprisings. The uprising in the the Nationalists since the Halabja massacre. Following
South, centred on Basra, was portrayed as a Shia the chemical attack by the Iraqi airforce against
Muslim revolt. Whereas the insurrection in the North deserters and civilians in the city of Halabja in 1988,
was reported as an exclusively Kurdish Nationalist the peshmergas initially prevented people from fleeing
uprising which demanded little more than an and then went on to pillage and rape those who
autonomous Kurdish region within Iraq. survived the massacre. As a result, many villagers
have long since refused to feed or shelter nationalist
The truth is that the uprisings in both the North and peshmergas. As in the South, the Communist Party and
South of Iraq were proletarian insurrections. its peshmergas are more popular.
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The uprising in the North was not nationalist. In the currency, was restricted while oil prices were relatively
early stages Ba'athist officials and secret police were low. The only options for redeeming war time
executed, police files were destroyed and the prisons promises of prosperity in peace were a rise in the
stormed. People were openly hostile to the bourgeois price of oil or more war. The former choice was
policies of the Kurdish Nationalists. In Sulaimania the blocked by Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Saddam's bold
Nationalist peshmergas were excluded from the city leap to resolve this impasse was to annex Kuwait and
and the exiled leader of the Patriotic Union of its rich oil fields.
Kurdistan, Jalal Talabani, was prevented from returning 1;est-was e" t9§n;e‘ ///"
to hishome town. When the Kurdish Democratic Party
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leader, Massoud Barzani, went to Chamcharnal, near
to Sulaimania, he was attacked and two of his body
guards were killed. When the Nationalists broadcast
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the slogan: "Now's the time to kill the Ba'athists!" the
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people of Sulaimania replied with the slogan: "Now’s § 45.:"" , .=;~:—;=-‘-='5"’._'
the time for the Nationalists to loot Porschesl", . "l,--F-eh. ___,¢s"" 7‘ fa
meaning that the Nationalists were only interested in w.1. . _/,. /‘l
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looting.
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A revolutionary group, "Communist Perspective", II / //:.:.<ii.~-/-'"~""'_"Q* ~_ ~"-=- T‘ r
played a major role in the insurrection. In their ‘. __ ___\_‘,__<:7‘,¢_—_v:.,_ __.__._f__ _"’. H ___ ~_ ‘l
publication, "Proletariat", they advocated the setting up 1i r Ii 7_— €,':t*—_- '‘<7—;-.-J-.__ —'.-;-_.4_ ? l
of workers’ councils. This provoked fear and anger Il
amongst the Nationalists, as well as the Communist
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in the war against Iran. _‘-,.-.-'>_'--'‘*\---">":-"§,'.._f‘r‘;-.-'~‘f’:fl'=.~i"f'.-'"i;''..,‘"".--:‘"-'-\..==7;'-‘‘-w,'_1~’>.-*_'";~>,;1'-:-'’_§-0:.=-_.'r‘'$;€;:'=_.’_|-:~=-I-Z--'=';;.P#~_g¢s;‘i‘':;§.*_"~.‘1"=;.~‘..:'21_~,é_I-?“‘~\2*.:i(T=‘-x"..:';-~:1"..'.-¢+‘$P-;1;..,>o'$-¢,.‘°4~-5-P""Qr:¢,%"-=o-"$>w'1t§-\0t2,?._1e~?2y"''-"3\'-'ga}‘:'ZI*~-',_\I‘.\i~4")»-1!="-~’.-‘-I.-"/}'4/~''---_-.\1.‘~9°_1~-.j="g;1€.'1“i.‘'‘.-_~..1¢"5\-2.."-*--"‘5..'"'-.A:-1?-_".‘¢._'\;-¥-..~:=\.',1f‘".‘:“5-}“*‘\"-?I3“”5.Ii'4"'$g’i-'&‘-“:."-'.|0"~-.'--":.¢"0."'-.:_---''-|1-.;'''--:-i::;:~'.‘"--:.’.’‘~.:~-_{."-1_i0“-"%-'''-:'-_-Q*;'!-t_'i‘0--i!f-:-''"g-.;;_--r_-';':=-=-9.:'2fa;:-''i_.Lr-Q_P¢“_i’g"'‘g-ui1-“;"-_':-l~v"‘b=-"-I:'‘€-E'-,--.n':=‘J'T'=%=.—-..
This gave America the opportunity to reassert its
political hegemony, not only in the Middle East, but
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also in the world as a whole. With the hope of
exorcising the spectre of Vietnam, the Bush regime
prepared for all out war. The Bush administration
hoped for a quick and decisiv(5 victory that would
evict Iraq from Kuwait but at the same time leave the
Iraqi regime intact. However, to mobilise the home
front for war, Bush had to equate Saddam with Hitler
and so became increasingly committed publicly to
toppling the Iraqi leader.
With this commitment the American government now
sought to impose such a military defeat on Iraq that
the Ba'athist Party would be obliged to replace
Saddam with someone else. Indeed the Bush regime
openly invited the ruling circles in Iraq to replace
Saddam Hussein with the approach of the ground war
in March. However, the mass desertion of Iraqi
conscripts and the subsequent uprisings in Iraq robbed
the American government of such a convenient victory.
HISTORIC EMBRACE: Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani embraces
Saddam Husseinon IraqiTV. Instead they faced the prospect of the uprising turning
In supporting Saddam the Western ruling class also into a full scale proletarian revolution. with all the dire
recognised that the Ba'athist Party, as a mass based consequences this would have for the accumulation of
fascist party, was the only force in Iraq capable and capital in the Middle East.
ruthless enough to repress the oil producing proletariat.
The last thing the American government wanted was
However, Saddam’s ultimate strategy for maintaining to be drawn into a prolonged military occupation of
social peace in Iraq was for a permanent war drive Iraq in order to suppress the uprisings. It was far more
and militarisation of society. But such a strategy could efficent to back the existing state. But there was no
only lead to further economic ruin and the time to insist on the removal of Saddam Hussein.
intensification of class antagonisms. In the Spring of They could ill afford the disruption this would cause.
I990 this contradiction was becoming blatant. The Hence, almost overnight, Bush's hostility to the
Iraqi economy was shattered after eight years of war butcher of Baghdad evaporated. The two rival butchers
with Iran. Oil production, the main source of hard went into partnership.
Their first task was to crush the uprising in the South and his parents own luxury hotels in Baghdad. The
which was being swelled by the huge columns of KDP was set up by rich exiles driven out of Kurdistan
deserters streaming North from Kuwait. Even though by the mass working class uprisings of 1958 when
these fleeing Iraqi conscripts posed no military threat hundreds of landowners and capitalists were strung up.
to Allied troops, "or to the objective of "liberating" As a result of these disturbing events a meeting of
Kuwait, the war was prolonged long enough for them exiled bourgeois in Razaeia, Iran organised nationalist
to be carpet bombed on the road to Basra by the RAF death squads to kill class struggle militants in Iraqi
and the USAF. This cold blooded massacre served no Kurdistan. Later they carried out racist murders of
other purpose than to preserve the Iraqi state from Arabs. During the Iraq-Iran war very few deserters
mutinous armed deserters. joined the nationalists and the
PUK received an amnesty
Following this massacre the from the Iraqi state in return
OPPOSITION TO THE WAR IN IRAQ
Allied ground forces, having for repressing deserters.
swept through Southern Iraq
There has been a long tradition ofclass struggle
to encircle Kuwait, stopped These Kurdish Nationalists,
in Iraq, particularly since the revolution in
short of Basra and gave free like the international
1958. With Saddam's strategy of a permanent
reign to the Republican bourgeoisie, recognised the
war drive to maintain socialpeace this struggle
Guards - the elite troops loyal importance of a strong Iraqi
has often taken the form ofmass desertion from
to the Iraqi regime - to crush state in order to maintain
the army. During the Iraq-Iran war tens of
the insurgents. All proposals capital accumulation against a
thousands of soldiers deserted the army. This
to inflict a decisive defeat on militant working class. So
swelled the mass working class opposition to the
the Republican Guards or to much so, in fact, that they
war. With the unreliability of the army it
proceed towards Baghdad to merely demanded that Iraqi
became increasingly difficult for the Iraqi state
topple Saddam were quickly Kurdistan be granted the
to put down such working class rebellions. It
forgotten. In the ceasefire status of an autonomous
was for this reason that Saddam Hussein used
negotiations the Allied forces region within a united Iraq.
chemical weapons against the town of Halabja
insisted on the grounding of
in 1988. W
all fixed wing aircraft but the
use of helicopters vital for
Following the invasion of Kuwait there were
counter-insurgency were
many demonstrations against its continued
permitted for "administrative
occupation. Even the ruling Ba’athist Party was
purposes". This "concession" In the uprising they did their
obliged to organise such demonstrations under
proved important once the best to defend the Iraqi state.
the slogan: "No to Kuwait: We only want
uprising in the South was put They actively intervened to
Saddam and Iraq!” in order to head off anti-
down and the Iraqi state's prevent the destruction of
war feeling. With the dramatic rise in the price
attention turned to the police files and state property,
of necessities - food prices alone rising to
advancing insurrection in the including military bases. The
twenty times their pre-invasion levels - there
North. Nationalists stopped Arab
was little enthusisasm for war. The common
deserters from joining the
attitude throughout Iraq was one ofdefeatism.
Whereas the uprising in the "Kurdish" uprising, disarmed
Basra region was crushed them, and sent them back to
Despite a 200% pay rise desertion from the
almost as it began, the Baghdad to be arrested. They
army became common. In the city ofSulaimania
Northern uprising had more did all they could to prevent
alone there were an estimated 30,000 deserters.
time to develop. It began in the insurrection from
In Kut there were 20,000. So overwhelming was
Raniah and spread to spreading beyond the
the desertion that it became relatively easy for
Sulaimania and Kut and at its "borders" of Kurdistan which
soldiers to bribe their way out of the army by
height threatened to spread was its only hope of success.
giving money to their officers. But these working
beyond Kurdistan to the When the Iraqi state began to
class conscripts did not merely desert, they
capital. The original aim of turn its attention to the
organised. In Kut thousands marched on the
the uprising was expressed in uprising in Kurdistan the
local police station and forced the police to
the popular slogan: "We will Kurdish Nationalists’ radio
concede an end to the harrassment ofdeserters.
celebrate our New Year with broadcasts did not encourage
the Arabs in Baghdad!" The or co-ordinate resistance but
Two days after the begining of the war anti-
defeat of this rebellion owed instead exaggerated the threat
war riots broke out in Raniah and later in
as much to the Kurdish posed by the demoralised
Sulaimania.
Nationalists as to the Western Iraqi troops still loyal to the
powers and the Iraqi state. government and advised
’*— 1 it ' people to flee to the
mountains. Which they
eventually did. None of this is any surprise if we
examine their history.
Like all nationalist movements the Kurdish Nationalists Although, as we have seen, there was much hostility
defend the interests of the propertied classes against towards the Kurdish Nationalists, they were able to
the working class. Most Kurdish nationalist leaders gain control and bring to halt the insurrection in
come from very rich families. For example, Talabani Kurdistan because of their organisation and greater
comes from a dynasty originally set up by the British material resources. Having been long backed by the
West - the KDP by the USA and the PUK by Britain
- it was the Kurdish Nationalist parties that were able
to control both the supply of food and information.
This was vital, since after years of deprivation,
exacerbated by the war, the search for food was an
overriding concern. Many individuals were mainly
content with looting food, rather than with maintaining
revolutionary organisation and the development of the
insurrection. This weakness allowed the Nationalist
organisations to step in with their ample supplies of
food and well established radio stations.
The war in the Gulf was brought to an end by the
refusal of the Iraqi working class to fight and by the T igr,- ‘- .av‘,-_._1_-.“‘l A
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subsequent uprisings in Iraq. But such proletarian
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actions were crushed by the combined efforts of the
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various international and national bourgeois forces. ,_/‘/\___//@Zakho V \1
Once again, nationalism has served as the stumbling
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block for proletarian insurrection. While it is important sYR1A / \-W l
to stress that Middle East politics is not dominated by _// MosRuTlti Rama*/3"\ /~Y\ IR.AN
Islamic fundamentalism and Arab Nationalism, as it is /r’ <1-JArbil :\
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usually portrayed in the bourgeois press, but rests on / I R A > . ‘ :'- _\
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class conflict, it must be said that the immediate
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prospects for the development of working class \l" 100miles Karrahangir \
struggle in Iraq are now bleak. 1 , ' EI
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Q. Mfl ” This leaflet was produced by revolutionaries from Iraq
Q“ and Britain. For more copies or correspondence we
can be contacted by writing as follows :
ii
B.M CAT, LONDON WCIN 3XX, UK., or
PO BOX 3305, OAKLAND CA 94609, USA.
The war not only resulted in the defeat of the Iraqi
working class but also revealed the state of defeat of Donations towards the cost of this leaflet would be
the working class in the USA, and, to a lesser degree, appreciated.
Europe. The western anti-war movement never
developed into a mass working class opposition to the TO BE A PATRIOT IS
war. It remained dominated by a pacifist orientation
that "opposed" the war in terms of an alternative TO BE AN ASSASSIN!
national interest: "Peace is Patriotic". While it
expressed abhorrence of the Allies‘ holocaust it
opposed doing anything to stop it that might bring it
cinotnocenctroantefrdonotantiofnutilewisthymbtohleic psrtoattees.t tIhnastteasdimpliyt >llllll
fostered the sense of helplessness in the face of the
state‘s war machine.
Following the defeat of the insurrection, the Western
media’s misrepresentation continued. The proletariat
was represented as helpless victims, ripe for
patronizing by the charities, grateful for the spectacles
of pop stars flogging the Live Aid horse once more.
For those that remembered the uprising a "Let It Be...
Kurdistan" t-shirt was the obvious answer. Whilst the
uprising was defeated we cannot allow its aims and
the manner of its defeat to be distorted without
challenge: hence this text.
The failure of the working class to recognize its own
class interests as distinct from the "national interest"
and sabotage the war effort can only serve to deepen
the divisions amongst our international class along
national lines. Our rulers will now be that much more
confident of conducting murderous wars unopposed
elsewhere in the world, a confidence they have lacked
since the working class ended the Vietnam war by
mutinies, desertion, strikes and riots.