- Register
- Locations
- Topics
- Lessons of Wisconsin: The political issues in the fight against budget cuts
- From Egypt to America: Class struggle & revolution in the 21st Century
- From Afghanistan and Iraq to Libya: Imperialism and the fight against war
- The defense of democratic rights
- Socialism and the defense of culture
- Utility shutoffs and the social rights of the working class: Organizing a fight back
- Socialism and the political independence of the working class
- Catastrophe in Japan: Capitalism and mass society
- Forum
- Get Involved
Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya: Imperialism and the fight against war
The world economy is integrated as never before in a single system of production, and yet this has only exacerbated the conflicts between nation-states and heightened the danger of war. Bush’s “wars of the Twenty-First Century” began with the US invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001, now the longest military engagement in the country’s history. This was followed by the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. Now the US and Europe have launched another military intervention in Libya, two months after the beginning of revolutionary uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East.
Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and Afghans have been killed by US aggression, and millions more turned into refugees. About 7,000 US and other foreign occupation troops have lost their lives. All over the world, atrocities carried out by the American military against civilians have become routine, while the US openly upholds the right to assassinate its perceived opponents—including US citizens.
The movement against war must be rebuilt, but it must be based on a new political program and perspective. The official anti-war organizations in the US have worked over the past decade to channel popular opposition to war behind the Democratic Party. This culminated in the election of Obama, who has expanded war in Afghanistan and Pakistan and is organizing the new act of agression against Libya.
Related Articles:
General Petraeus and the CIA
Written by Bill Van Auken on April 29, 2011A senior official in the Obama administration confirmed Wednesday afternoon media reports of a major reshuffling of top positions in the US military-intelligence apparatus. Gen. David Petraeus, the senior commander of US occupation troops in Afghanistan, will assume the position of director of the Central Intelligence Agency, while the current CIA director, Leon Panetta, will take over the position of defense secretary from Robert Gates, who is quitting the Pentagon at the end of June.
Facebook
TwitterPakistan: CIA drone kills 25 on eve of mass protest against US missile strikes
Written by Ketih Jones on April 24, 2011A US predator drone strike killed 25 people in the village of Spinwam in North Waziristan yesterday. According to a Pakistani government official, the dead included at least five children and four women.
Divisions deepen as NATO digs in for a prolonged war against Libya
Written by Stefan Steinberg on April 15, 2011Foreign ministers from all 28 NATO countries met in Berlin on Thursday in an atmosphere of growing tension and recriminations between alliance states. The main issue to be discussed at the two-day summit is the NATO led war in Libya.
The UK and France are exerting pressure on other NATO countries to take part in the military campaign and in particular provide fighter planes to strengthen the NATO offensive on behalf of the Libyan rebel opposition.
US-NATO bombings kill civilians in Tripoli
Written by Bill Van Auken on April 1, 2011US-NATO air strikes on Tripoli and other Libyan cities have claimed growing numbers of civilian victims, according to the Vatican’s top representative in the Libyan capital.
The report represents a severe blow to the attempts by Washington and its NATO allies, backed by the overwhelming majority of the Western media, to dismiss the Libyan government’s claims of civilian casualties as “propaganda” and portray the continuous air raids as a “humanitarian” defense of the population.
Libya, imperialism and the prostration of the “left” intellectuals: The case of Professor Juan Cole
Written by David North on April 1, 2011Among the most striking features of the US-NATO onslaught against Libya has been the widespread support that this “war of choice” has evoked among left-liberal parties and the affluent middle-class milieu that comprise an important part of their constituency. Waving the banner of “human rights”—the most hypocritical and deceitful of all justifications for imperialist war—the liberal left embraced this war as their own. One would imagine that this was the first time in history that imperialism had proclaimed the cause of “human rights” and democracy as a cloak for its predatory interests!
American media silent on CIA ties to Libya rebel commander
Written by Patrick Martin on March 30, 2011It has been six days since Khalifa Hifter was appointed the top military commander for the Libyan rebel forces fighting the regime of Muammar Gaddafi. His appointment was noted by reporter Nancy Youssef of McClatchy Newspapers, a US regional chain that includes the Sacramento Bee and the Kansas City Star.
Rolling Stone publishes photos of US war crimes in Afghanistan
Written by Naomi Spencer on March 29, 2011Rolling Stone magazine has published a detailed report and images that document war crimes in Afghanistan committed by the so-called Army “kill team” in 2010. The exposé, “The Kill Team,” written by Mark Boal and published online March 27, includes 18 gruesome photographs and two videos taken by soldiers who took part in patrols in Kandahar province.
Libya war divides NATO
Written by Peter Schwarz on March 24, 2011The war against Libya has ignited a heated conflict within NATO. After several days of negotiations, the 28 members of the military alliance were unable to agree on the command structure for the action against Libya. On Monday, the conflict escalated to the point where the German and French delegations walked out of a NATO Council meeting on the war.
Photos released of atrocities by US “kill team” in Afghanistan
Written by Jerry White on March 22, 2011The German news magazine Der Spiegel on Monday published photographs of atrocities carried out last year by members of a US Army unit in Kandahar, Afghanistan. One photo includes an American soldier smiling for the camera as he lifts the head of a dead Afghan civilian like a hunter after bagging his game.
Der Spiegel published three photos, but it and Der Spiegel TV have reportedly obtained 4,000 photographs and videos from a collection belonging to a suspected member of a US army “kill team.”
No to imperialist intervention in Libya!
Written by World Socialist Web Site editorial board on March 19, 2011The World Socialist Web Site categorically opposes any military intervention in Libya. The drive toward war, which was given the green light by the UN Security Council on Thursday, has nothing to do with the humanitarian pretexts offered up by the major powers. Rather, it represents the violent imperialist subjugation of a former colony.
