" No Iraqi called me a Nigger!".

By: Lorenzo Komboa Ervin

Right after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center towers in New York and the Pentagon, when President George W. Bush began his saber rattling against Iraq, Iran, North Korea, and various other 3rd World countries, I wrote an anti-war article called "No Palestinian called me a Nigger!".

The article defended, Chris Gatewood, the leader of the Raleigh Durham branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) for expressing what many black people felt, a belief that African Americans should not become part of an "anti-terrorist" military campaign by the white government against the oppressed peoples of color of the world, when we did not have our own freedom in America.

I pointed out, as the late Malcolm X had done, that when the slavemaster's house is on fire, we should not be sad, but understand it as the chickens coming home to roost. I also pointed out that we ourselves had unfinished business with America, and had not been given reparations to atone for centuries of our oppresion. I pointed out that if a war was to be fought, we must fight for freedom in America, not some foreign adventure. I called on black people, not just to mourn, but to understand that America is a racist empire that brought this tragedy upon herself. No one can deny now that America’s foreign policy, and blind support of Israel is behind the September 11th attacks.

Well, the American government did indeed go to war; since Bush blamed the Taliban regime and Al Queda for the September 11th attacks, he ordered military attacks on Afghanistan. So the American air force dropped a huge number of bombs on Afghanistan and invaded with thousands of troops, and that country is now under American military ocupation. The Talibanregime has been replaced by an American puppet regime.

Over 4,000 Afghani civilians have been killed by aerial bombing, and a low level civil war is still taking place, even though the U.S. president and military have declared "victory."

Bush had stated that his "war against terrorism" included a policy of American military intervention anywhere in the world that he felt that American interests were threatened. This meant introducing troops into any country if America felt it was an "enemy nation", even if it had done nothing to the USA. So they targeted Iraq, but could not convince the world that they were guilty of anything. The reality is that try as they might, the Bush administration has not been able to prove any guilt by Iraq for the September 11th attacks.

Almost immediately after the attacks on Afghanistan, however, there were calls by various members of the Bush administration for an attack on Iraq under the pretext that it had so-called "weapons of mass destruction" and was refusing to accept United Nations monitoring of its military activities. It still did not elicit any fervor among the other countries of the world, even those who had supported the US in the prior 1991 Iraq-Kuwait war.

So, now that we are on the eve of such another attack on Iraq, and since Black people and other peoples of color are, as always, the frontline troops for this country, we need to examine this story. First, all of the so-called weapons of mass destruction, meaning nuclear, biological and chemical weapons either do not exist, as in nuclear weapons, or were destroyed during the first American war against Iraq. Even the UN inspectors admit that, saying that they had destroyed most weapons right after the first war.

So what is really going on here? Why is such a war being plotted , which even the European and Arab allies of America oppose? The answer is very simple. This war is to be fought to protect Israel and its military supremacy in the region.

The only country which has nuclear and CBW weapons in the Middle East is Israel. Israel has had nuclear weapons, 250-400 estimated thermonuclear bombs, guided missles, artillery, and submarine launched,since at least the early 1970's. (NOTE: in a successive article, I will give information about theIsraeli nuclear progam). Israel has the fourth largest army in the world, eighth largest air force, and one of the largest navies, including nuclear submarines.

Yet, Israel has steadfastly refused to allow United Nations weapons inspectors into the country, refuses to sign the nuclear non-profliferation agreement, and has been the only country in the Middle East to do so.

So why is America primed to attack Iraq on what are clearly fabricated grounds?

Israel and America are threatened by Iraq and Saddam Hussein, in particular. According to Ahmad Faiz bin Abdul Rahman, Assistant Director of the international Movement for a Just Action said in a December 1998 article: "Iraq is a nation that stands as a threat to Western domination of the global economy through its lifeblood, which is oil. That was the real reason why the U.S. and its allies intervened in the Iraq-Kuwait war with such speed and continues to be the reason why it is so actively involved in Middle Eastern affairs."

It seems that whatever problems that Hussein may have in governing, he is not someone easily intimidated with the threat of American military action. The real worries that both the American and Israeli political establishment have is that Iraq may obtain comparable weapons, not that they will dominate the region.

So, we are being sold a bill of goods, getting involved in yet another dirty war without provocation or justification. Bush is asking young black and poor people to die over the oil companies' greed and the mad designs of the American military. They want to convince us that this war is necessary to remove a ruthless dictator, when that is not the duty of another country, but the Iraqi people themselves. This government is hypocritical.

In years past, the American government supported Hussein, gave him military weapons, even poison gas. Although they have made him out as a mass murderer, even then, the poison gas was used during the Iran-Iraq war. It seems that as long as he was using American weapons to kill Iranians, he was a "good guy" to the U.S. government, until he threatened the supply of oil. The senior Bush said then that Hussein threatened America by invading Kuwait.

But America and the West are just interested in controlling the oil wealth of the Middle East and North Africa. So they want us to invade another country and to kill tens of thousands of its people to "rescue" the oil wealth of the Middle East for America and the West, not to "restore democracy" to Iraq. The truth is there is already talk among the officials in the Bush administration of attacking Saudi Arabia and capturing its oil fields, especially if there another oil embargo like occurred in 1973, are planning on attacking Libya to remove Muammar al-Qaddafi, have publicly threatened an attack on Iran, and have a plan for attacking Syria, among other countries in the Middle East. So this is clearly being done to protect Israel as America's military and political proxy.

It wants to reshape the region by attacking one country after another. This is the new imperialism of George W. Bush and the military establishment. Bush, his family, and the oil companies stand to personally benefit from any war in the Middle East, which removes any opposition to their plans of domination.

This proposed war is not a just war, it is Western military conquest and re-establishment of colonial authority. This is an attempt to create one after another of slavish American puppet regimes in the Middle East, based on the Afghanistan model. It won't work, but it will create massive bloodshed and a long term Middle East military campaign.

Since Black people still do not have our full human rights in America, why do we continue to allow ourselves to be used as mercenaries on behalf of a racist country like Israel, and to be tricked by a corrupt politician like George Bush? We are not being told the truth about the Israeli role in this entire matter. The puppet mass media is keeping Israeli's role a secret while making Iraq into a villian. Why?

To justify such an attack and sell it to the people of the US; this hardly a free press, the American mass media serves the government and the rich. Further, the Israeli lobby in the US is so powerful that it can control and shape any articles written about Israel and the Middle East.

We still have time to prevent this tragedy. What can we do? We should openly resist this war, expose the real aims of the Bush government to our relatives, neighbors, friends, church members, and others. We should call the radio and television talk shows, write articles for the local black press, and other publications to tell them what we know and that we oppose this war. We should become part of anti-war coalitions in our community, and if one does not exist, we should start one. We should contact thecongresspersons from our districts, and ask them to oppose the war. We should do all this, and more, but we need to understand that we must act now, or we will be in one war after another--all in the name of protecting America, when the very country responsible for the September 11, 2001 attacks and the real threatin the Middle East, Israel, is let off the hook.

By: Lorenzo Komboa Ervin