U.S. is the Nuclear Threat
• Hands Off Iran!
• International Campaign: Stop the War on Iran Before it Starts
• No to U.S. Imperialist Aggression: Reject the Warmongers and War Criminals
• Illegal U.S. Raids Planned Publicly: Pentagon Prepares Iran Strike
• Bush Administration Finalizes Military Attack on Iran • Iran President Slams Bush and International Pressures
Reject Imperialist Provocations
• Denmark Has Lost Its Innocence
We Demand Accountability
• Opposition to Bush Reaction Continues to Mount
• Green Party Cites War Crimes, Lawlessness:
Congress Must Impeach Bush and Cheney
• Campaign to Censure Bush and Cheney
Puerto Rico for the Puerto Ricans
• Protests Oppose FBI Raids In Puerto Rico
Hands Off Iran!
The U.S. is now actively preparing to launch a military air strike against Iran. It is openly declaring its plans and preparations, and seeking to embroil the rest of the world in its aggression and impunity against Iran and the world’s peoples. As Bush put it, “America will continue to rally the world to confront” Iran, and the “nations of the world must not permit the Iranian regime to gain nuclear weapons.”
The common stand of the ruling circles on the need to act against Iran was also stated by Senator Hillary Clinton. Like Bush, she said, “We cannot and should not — must not — permit Iran to build or acquire nuclear weapons.” She said, “we must move as quickly as feasible for sanctions.” She emphasized, “We cannot take any option off the table in sending a clear message to the current leadership of Iran that they will not be permitted to acquire nuclear weapons.”
It is clear these aggressors know no limits. The promotion and preparation of aggression is a crime against the peace and a crime against humanity. It is the U.S. that is gravely threatening the peoples with aggression and nuclear weapons. It is the U.S. that is striving to be dictator to the world, to decide the governments and polices of all countries and use military force whenever it pleases. It is the U.S. that must disarm and disarm now! Voice of Revolution vigorously opposes these crimes of the U.S. and urges all concerned to join in actions to oppose aggression against Iran and all U.S. aggression.
Let no one be fooled by claims of a threat from Iran. Iran is and has been defending its sovereignty and that is a contribution to peace. So long as the big powers, especially the U.S. have nuclear weapons, Iran, like every other country, has a right to develop nuclear power and weapons. It is not up to the U.S. to decide which countries can and can not have weapons, which can and cannot elect governments of their own choosing, and not that of the U.S. Now is the time to defend Iran’s sovereignty and reject U.S. efforts to annex its oil-rich regions and dictate its internal policies.
The fact that it is not nuclear weapons that the U.S. is concerned about can also be seen in the fact that the U.S. supplied and defends Israel’s having nuclear weapons. How is it that nuclear weapons in the hands of Israel are acceptable while Iran “will not be permitted to acquire nuclear weapons”? It is the U.S. and Israel that unleash state terrorism against the Palestinians, Iraqis, Afghanistanis, that commit the crimes of aggression.
It is the U.S. that is already using radioactive depleted uranium munitions. It is the U.S. that says it will use nuclear weapons in a first strike. It is the U.S. that has dropped nuclear bombs, twice. The threat is from the U.S. and its broad impunity to use force.
What is necessary is for the U.S. to disarm and eliminate its nuclear weapons now and withdraw all troops from abroad. Let the peoples themselves determine their own affairs without foreign interference.
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Stop the War on Iran Before it Starts
It is with grave concern that we -observe the growing threat of a new U.S. war — this time against the people of Iran. The media is filled with reports of an alleged nuclear threat posed by Iran and the assumed need for the U.S. to take military action. These reports recall the “Weapons of Mass Destruction” stories issued in the months leading up to the war on Iraq.
In the lead up to the illegal invasion of Iraq, the Bush Administration asserted that Iraq possessed massive stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction and that it was capable of launching an attack — nuclear, chemical and biological — on the U.S. within 45 minutes.
President Bush said that the U.S. had to attack immediately, and could not “wait for the final proof — the smoking gun — that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud.” We all know now that this propaganda campaign was a complete fabrication created to justify a war of aggression.
Now we see reports that are all too similar being made to justify military action against the people of Iran. Taking Iran to the UN Security Council is a prelude for unilateral action. Just as in the case of Iraq, none of the claims made by the U.S. government stand up to unbiased scrutiny. Iran has submitted to the most intrusive and humiliating inspections, above and beyond what is required by Nuclear Weapons Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). None of the inspections have found any evidence that Iran is developing a nuclear weapons program.
There is only one government that has used nuclear weapons against civilian populations, and that same nation has the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction on the planet. Most dangerous and incredible it is at this very moment developing a new generation of tactical nuclear weapons that it intends to use, not merely to threaten. That country is, of course, the United States. Shouldn’t any real discussion of the dangers of nuclear weapons include the weapons stockpiled by the Pentagon and the history of U.S. aggression and interventions?
Iran has suffered greatly at the hands of the U.S. We recall the U.S. overthrew the democratically elected government of Dr. M. Mossadegh and returned the Shah to the Peacock Throne “the proudest achievement of the CIA”. For 25 years the Shah ruled Iran with an iron fist for the benefit of U.S. oil corporations before the people of Iran, in the millions, overthrew his tyranny at a terrible cost of lives. For the past 27 years U.S. sanctions have impeded Iran’s right to development and brought great suffering to the people.
It is essential that all voices opposed to the devastation of a new war in the Middle East speak out now. We urge an immediate end to Washington’s campaign of sanctions, hostility, and falsehood against the people of Iran. We oppose any new U.S. aggression against Iran. We need funds for human needs, not endless war for empire.
Initial Signers (add your name)
Signed by hundreds of activists, artists, writers, along with many others.
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No to U.S. Imperialist Aggression
Reject the Warmongers and War Criminals
The promotion and planning of aggression is a crime against the peace, a crime against humanity. This is the world standard, achieved as part of the victory against fascism. The U.S. imperialists are now openly promoting war with Iran, which has committed no aggression, no crime, nothing but defended its sovereignty. Iran has the right to use nuclear energy and pursue nuclear weapons. It is the U.S. that has no right to continue to maintain its massive arsenal of weapons and to now threaten to use nuclear weapons in a first strike against Iran. These are the crimes, these are the dangers to humanity.
Listen to the warmongers and criminals and know that their sole aim is to justify their brutal empire building.
President George W. Bush in the State of the Union:
“The regime in [Iran] sponsors terrorists in the Palestinian territories and in Lebanon — and that must come to an end. The Iranian government is defying the world with its nuclear ambitions — and the nations of the world must not permit the Iranian regime to gain nuclear weapons. America will continue to rally the world to confront these threats.”
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld:
“All options — including the military one — are on the table.”
Richard Perle, a main architect of the U.S. war on Iraq and former head of the Defense Policy Advisory Committee. He was speaking to the press at a conference on security in Munich, Germany:
“If you want to try to wait until the very last minute, you’d better be very careful how long you choose to wait.” Perle said Israel had chosen not to wait until it was too late to bomb a facility in Iraq in 1981, reportedly part of Iraq’s “nuclear weapons program.” Perle continued, “I cannot tell you when we may face a similar choice with Iran. But it is either take action now or lose the option of taking action.” Asked about a military strike, Perle said “I hope that can be avoided but that is always a possibility. We are talking about physical facilities [in Iran] and they are always vulnerable.”
Senator Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Leadership Council:
“Senator Hillary Clinton noted in a speech earlier this week, it is time now for the United States to strike while the iron is hot with a tough new strategy to encourage the now-galvanized international community to push [Iran] to change directions.
“We cannot and should not — must not — permit Iran to build or acquire nuclear weapons,” Clinton said in an address at Princeton University.
“In order to prevent that from occurring, we must have more support vigorously and publicly expressed by China and Russia, and we must move as quickly as feasible for sanctions in the United Nations.” Clinton also bluntly suggested the ultimate threat of force should be maintained and made credible. “We cannot take any option off the table in sending a clear message to the current leadership of Iran that they will not be permitted to acquire nuclear weapons.”
“A nuclear Iran is indeed unacceptable. Iran is by any reasonable definition a rogue state. It subsidizes terrorists throughout the Middle East; has given safe haven to al Qaeda members; and is clearly manipulating Shi’a extremists in Iraq who hope to set up a Tehran- aligned Islamist state. Its current theocratic regime seems determined to rehabilitate the crudest sort of Nazi-style antisemitism and use it as a rationale for opposing any Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. If Iran acquires a nuclear weapons capability, it will not only further destabilize the world’s most fragile region, it will also trigger a new nuclear arms race and all but destroy the credibility of global nonproliferation rules.
“Sen. Clinton is right in challenging the administration to show leadership on this issue. The president identified Iran as a charter member of the “Axis of Evil” in 2002, but then failed to forge a coherent policy for checking Tehran’s nuclear ambitions or curbing its support of Middle East terror groups. Preoccupied by its misadventures in Iraq, the administration more recently decided to back European efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the crisis. That was the right call. We have few credible military options at a time when U.S. forces have their hands full in Afghanistan and Iraq. Moreover, embracing diplomacy with respect to Iran has helped repair damaged relations with key European allies and solidify their determination to stop Iran’s flouting of global nonproliferation rules. And finally, while Iran’s regime can’t bring itself to make concessions to the United States, it does fear economic and political isolation.
“But now that it has thumbed its nose at European negotiators, Tehran must be decisively brought to heel. Sen. Clinton is right that we should push the U.N. security council to take up the matter of sanctions and call the bluff of the Tehran bully-boys who seem to believe that the rest of the world will turn rabbit at the threat of losing access to Iranian oil. The current regime in Iran has much more to lose from sanctions--including, quite possibly, its own power at the hands of a population that’s already chafing under the mullahs’ repression--than anyone else.
“Just yesterday, Sen. Evan Bayh introduced a resolution in the Senate calling on the administration to press for U.N. sanctions. As he rightly said: “We have wasted valuable time, diverted resources and ignored this problem at our peril,” Sen. Bayh said. “No one wants to forestall the need to use military force more than I do, but if we are to do so, we must act now. Time is of the essence.”
“Specifically, President Bush should tap his famous friendship with Vladimir Putin to press the Russians — who have significant influence in Tehran, in part because they have already agreed to build a nuclear power plant in Iran and supply it with non-weapons grade fuel — to support sanctions. If Russia joins the great power coalition seeking to enforce global nonproliferation rules, the odds are that China will not use its veto to thwart sanctions.
“Should Iran persist in its intransigence, the Council would then have no choice but to impose economic and diplomatic sanctions. It is essential that the major powers dramatically raise the costs to Tehran of pursuing the capability to produce nuclear weapons. If that fails, we will have to seriously contemplate the use of military force. Only this time, there will be no doubt that the United States and other leading powers have exhausted every possible avenue to a peaceful solution.”
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Illegal U.S. Raids Planned Publicly
Pentagon Prepares Iran Strike
Pentagon plans to end the Iranian nuclear program with an air strike were unveiled by the on-line British paper, the Daily Telegraph. Despite Iran’s claims that its nuclear program is for civilian purposes, the U.S. is assessing targets and planning to use cruise missiles.
The paper reported on contacts by the Pentagon and the Central Command with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to attack Iran should diplomacy fail. Rumsfeld has repeated that “All options, including the military one, are on the table.”
An air strike would include air-refueling B-2 bombers to take off from an air base in Missouri. The bombing would involve air bases in east Iraq, west Afghanistan, Turkey, Qatar and south Oman, and aircraft carriers deployed in the Persian Gulf with fighter planes armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles.
The U.S. has said it has the capacity to destroy a dozen nuclear-classified installations in Iran. The most important sites are underground and have anti-air defenses, like Esfahan and Natanz plants. The latter has the most sensitive systems 18 feet underground shielded with reinforced concrete. It is expected that the U.S. would use its “bunker-busters,” which use radioactive depleted uranium.
Air Force Lt. Col. Sam Gardiner (ret.) said the U.S. would commence the operation with air raids that would be followed by other targets, around 125, including air and submarine bases, said Gardiner.
Other sources consulted by the British paper think that actions of this nature would generate a new conflict in the Middle East. Joseph Cirincione, a non-proliferation expert from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said it should be diplomacy not the F-15 missions that stop Iran. In Cirincione’s view “an air strike on the Esfahan plant would ignite Muslim rage and anti-U.S. feelings among the entire Iranian population.”
Israel Experts Back Strikes on Tehran’s Nuclear Sites
With the Iran nuclear imbroglio showing no sign of an early resolution, Israeli defense experts have claimed that their air force has the ability “to cripple” Tehran’s nuclear program by striking at the “weak” spots.
Hitting and destroying two or three key facilities would probably be sufficient, Shlomo Brom, a former Israeli armed forces chief of strategic planning was quoted as saying by Newsweek magazine here.
He identified the Natanz uranium-enrichment complex and the conversion plant at Esfahan as critical targets.
“You need to identify the bottlenecks. There are not very many. If you take them out, then you really undermine the project” a senior unnamed military source said.
But there is also the realization that these attacks are not going to be easy. “They are dispersed, underground, hardened,” the senior Israeli military source has said and American analysts are making the point that each facility would require multiple hits before serious damage was done, the magazine reported.
The Israelis, according to the report, are insisting that they have the firepower necessary for the mission including more than 100 US-made Blu-109 “bunker buster” earth-penetrating bombs.
“I think they could do the job,” the senior Israeli source has told the magazine.
The Newsweek report speaks of yet another hurdle in the plans — logistics and the imperative of each target in Iran being assigned a small fleet of aircraft that would include not just the strike force but an accompaniment of plans that would include mid-air refueling aircrafts and radar jamming systems.
To get there and bomb the facilities, that’s the easy part. The difficult part is how to get back. We’re not making Kamikaze runs,” Brom said.
A senior unnamed U.S. administration official has said that the best that can be hoped for in any strike is the delaying of the nuclear capability of Iran.
“The real question is what you achieve if the best you can do is to delay the project for a few years,” the senior official has said.
Zee News of India, February 7, 2006
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Bush Administration Finalizes Military Attack on Iran
January 2, 2006 — Intelligence and military sources in the United States and abroad are reporting on various factors that indicate a U.S. military hit on Iranian nuclear and military installations that may involve tactical nuclear weapons, is in the final stages of preparation. Likely targets for saturation bombing are the Bushehr nuclear power plant (where Russian and other foreign national technicians are present), a uranium mining site in Saghand near the city of Yazd, the uranium enrichment facility in Natanz, a heavy water plant and radioisotope facility in Arak, the Ardekan Nuclear Fuel Unit, the Uranium Conversion Facility and Nuclear Technology Center in Isfahan, the Tehran Nuclear Research Center, the Tehran Molybdenum, Iodine and Xenon Radioisotope Production Facility, the Tehran Jabr Ibn Hayan Multipurpose Laboratories, the Kalaye Electric Company in the Tehran suburbs, a reportedly dismantled uranium enrichment plant in Lashkar Abad, and the Radioactive Waste Storage Units in Karaj and Anarak.
Other first targets would be Shahab-I, II, and III missile launch sites, air bases (including the large Mehrabad air base/international airport near Tehran), naval installations on the Persian Gulf and Caspian Sea, command, control, communications and intelligence facilities. Secondary targets would include civilian airports, radio and TV installations, telecommunications centers, government buildings, conventional power plants, highways and bridges, and rail lines. Oil installations and commercial port facilities would likely be relatively untouched by U.S. forces in order to preserve them for U.S. oil and business interests.
There has been a rapid increase in training and readiness at a number of U.S. military installations involved with the planned primarily aerial attack. These include a Pentagon order to Fort Rucker, Alabama, to be prepared to handle an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 trainees, including civilian contractors, who will be deployed for Iranian combat operations. Rucker is home to the US Army’s aviation training command, including the helicopter training school.
In addition, there has been an increase in readiness at nearby Hurlburt Field in Florida, the home of the U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command. The U.S. attack on Iran will primarily involve aviation (Navy, Air Force, Navy-Marine Corps) and special operations assets.
There has also been a noticeable increase in activity at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms, California, a primary live fire training activity located in a desert and mountainous environment similar to target areas in Iran.
From European intelligence agencies comes word that the United States has told its NATO allies to be prepared for a military strike on Iranian nuclear development and military installations. […]
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Iran President Slams Bush and International Pressures
Tehran, February 1 — Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad condemned George W. Bush’s remarks on the Iranian nuclear issue and pledged to strongly resist pressures by “bully countries” to restrain the program of Iran, “whose nuclear plants will be only used to generate electricity, not to make bombs.” “Nuclear energy is our right, and we will resist until this right is fully realized,” Ahmadinejad stated before a crowd in the southern city of Bushehr, site of the only nuclear power plant Iran will operate, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported.
Responding to Bush’s statements in his January 31 State of the Union address, Ahmadinejad branded the U.S. as a hollow superpower that is tainted with the blood of nations and made it clear that Tehran would continue developing its nuclear program.
“Our nation cannot give in to the coercion of some bully countries that think they are the whole world and see themselves equal to the entire globe,” he pointed out.
The Iranian leader lashed out against the Washington-spearheaded war of Iran by saying his nation hopes those whose hands are tainted with blood of nations and are involved in wars and oppression in any part of the world would be put on trial by the international courts.
Supporting Ahmadinejad, and making reference to a possible attack on Iran’s nuclear installations, Defense Minister, General Mostafa Mohammad Najjar made it clear that any attack against his nation’s peaceful nuclear facilities would face a swift and crushing response from the armed forces, according to the IRNA.
His comments follow Bush’s increased attacks on Iran over its nuclear program, saying in his address Tuesday night that “nations of the world must not permit the Iranian regime to gain nuclear weapons.”
Despite repeated U.S. denunciations of the alleged Iranian use of nuclear engery for military purposes, a three-year International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) probe has found no evidence to back assertions by the U.S. that Iranian nuclear activities are a cover for an arms program.
Today, deputy foreign ministers from Russia and China headed to Iran to inform it of concerns about its nuclear program and to explain the results of the London meeting between China, U.S., France, Great Britain, Russia, and Germany.
Russian officials stated the visit was not a strong-arm tactic because they cannot put pressures on a sovereign country, European media reported.
At a February 2 meeting in -Vienna, the International Atomic Energy -Agency (IAEA) is slated to decide whether to report Iran to the Security Council.
Ministers of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries believe that reporting Iran to the Security Council could heat up already sizzling oil prices, although Iran, the fourth largest oil producer of the world, has assured it will not use its oil exports as a weapon.
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Reject Imperialist Provocations
Denmark Has Lost Its Innocence
“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark,” Shakespeare wrote in his famous Hamlet some four centuries ago. The events that have taken place during the last weeks and months show that Shakespeare’s words have gained new actuality. We who live in Denmark can confirm that everything is not as it ought to be.
According to the modern myth already created, it all started in my home town, the city of Aarhus, on September 30 last year when the national newspaper with a regional name, Jyllands Posten (The Jutland Post), published 12 cartoons that presented an offensive, stereotypical image of Mohammed.
The official reason for printing the cartoons was, according to the editor-in-chief, to challenge the way freedom of speech is practiced in Denmark as it is allegedly being restricted due to a growing Muslim influence. Before publishing the cartoons, they were shown to a series of experts who explained that they most certainly would provoke anger among Muslims who would feel offended by the way their prophet was portrayed. So, the printing of the cartoons was from the very beginning planned as a malicious provocation.
Official and Real Motives
It is always difficult to guess the personal motives of those who take inappropriate decisions. And these motives are, indeed, of little interest. What is important is the historical context in which the decisions are taken and the role generally played by the decision makers. From that point of view, it is easy to conclude that the publication of the cartoons is part of a national agenda promoted by the Danish ruling circles with a double purpose:
• to divide the Danish working class into nationals and foreigners, Christians and Muslims, in order to weaken its resistance to the brutal imposition of neo-liberal policies at a very specific moment where the Danish economy is momentarily one of the most thriving within the general framework of a crisis-ridden capitalist world economy;
• to weaken — by creating an artificial image of the Muslim world as an enemy — the growing demand among the Danish people that Danish troops should be withdrawn from Iraq where they are taking part in the illegal occupation headed by U.S. imperialism.
From the very beginning, the whole issue has been treated with a mixture of arrogance and stupidity, both by the editors of Jyllands Posten and by the Danish government. It soon became clear that the Muslim peoples did feel offended. The Muslim society in Denmark, in early October, organized demonstrations and called on the newspaper to apologize for the publication. This was refused with the false pretext of defending freedom of speech.
On October 19, ambassadors from 11 Muslim countries requested a meeting with the Danish government in order to discuss the cartoons. In a very arrogant manner, the rightist government of Anders Fogh Rasmussen refused to meet the ambassadors for a discussion that might have prevented subsequent events.
In an action unheard of in the history of Danish diplomacy, 22 former Danish ambassadors publicly criticized the Prime Minister’s refusal to meet with representatives of Muslim countries. They were backed by former Danish Foreign Minister Uffe Ellemann-Jensen, a cold warrior and rightist politician who, however, is sensible to these kinds of cultural problems. But the government stuck to its own decision. It apparently was not unhappy with the fact that the cartoons caused disunity and distracted popular attention from the social consequences of its planned “welfare reforms” that were announced last autumn.
It was only when the national agenda turned into an international crisis of unprecedented dimensions that the government and the newspaper decided to take action. But even then, their arrogance prevented them from saving what could be saved. The editor of Jyllands Posten, for example, apologized to Muslims because they felt offended, but he did not apologize for publishing the offensive cartoons, because such an apology, according to him, would be a violation of his freedom of speech! In this way, the apology was not enough to end the protests and neither was the appearance of the Danish Prime Minister on Arab and Muslim television channels where he did not deliver the message expected from him.
A Reactionary Newspaper
Jyllands Posten is one of Denmark’s largest newspapers with a long tradition of rightist policy. In the 1930s, it was infamous for defending pro-Nazi positions. After the Second World War, it turned completely pro-NATO. During the war in Vietnam, it was a loyal ally of U.S. imperialism. Today, it is an arduous defender of the Zionist state of Israel and the imperialist occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan as well as the growing pressure on Iran, Syria and other independent countries.
Jyllands Posten is considered the unofficial organ of expression of the Liberal Party of Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen. As such, it is not an innocent player in the present crisis. Its defense of freedom of speech is nothing but hypocritical.
During the last years, Jyllands Posten has transformed itself into a national platform of the most rabid attacks against communists and other progressive people. Even the most idiotic anti-communist professor has free access to its columns. The freedom of speech practiced by the newspaper is used to distort, silence and criminalize communist and progressive ideas. The way the former socialist countries in Europe and the Danish communists who were active during the Cold War are portrayed is just as insulting as the 12 cartoons.
According to legend, the Danish national flag, Dannebrog, fell ready-made down from the sky in the year 1219 during the battle of Lyndanisse where the Danish crusaders fought to Christianize the pagan Estonians. Eight hundred years later, Jyllands Posten and the ruling Danish bourgeoisie is presenting freedom of speech as a sacred, absolutist principle that, in a similar way, fell ready-made down from the sky in its present narrow-minded and intolerant Danish version.
For the Danish communists, freedom of speech is a beautiful principle that takes its concrete form according to the concrete historical context and the social class that practices it. It is a necessity for the free development of individual human beings and their participation in the democratic processes of modern society. But it cannot be accepted as an unlimited right of the ruling class to insult other people and cause tension, violence, war and destruction. Freedom of speech should always be subordinated to ethics and the rules of civilized behavior among peoples and nations.
A Reactionary Government
The extent of the anti-Danish protests that have swept all over the Muslim world during the last weeks has taken the Danish public by surprise. Very few expected that something like this could ever happen. For years the Danish people have been indoctrinated with the belief that they lived in the best of all worlds; that they themselves were so very tolerant and everybody else, especially the Muslim peoples, intolerant; that their country was well-respected and their government well-intentioned and generous; that the Danish troops in Afghanistan and Iraq did a fine and humanitarian job and were well-received by the local people, etc.
This lie has survived and taken root because the Danish press, in spite of its own claim to be liberal and broad-minded, has turned into one of the most controlled and regimented in Europe. This control also explains why the Danish people have not seen what has been in the pipeline for several years.
Denmark, which 20 years ago was known for its social democratic welfare system, its humanitarian assistance to the third world and its footnote policy that offered certain resistance to the most aggressive plans of NATO and U.S. imperialism, has little by little been transformed into a very reactionary country. At the international level, this has expressed itself in Denmark’s subordination to U.S. imperialism and its participation in the aggressive wars against Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iraq. At the same time, Danish foreign “aid” is being still more conditioned by the acceptance of neo-liberal and pro-imperialist positions.
And at the national level, the so-called “anti-terror” legislation, the attempts to criminalize the communists and the still more intolerant tone in the debate on immigration are just some of the expressions of a reactionary state that several times has been censured by the UN, the Council of Europe and Amnesty International for its violation of human rights.
Now the Danish people are paying the price for the stupid actions of its arrogant and reactionary ruling class. Even the journalists who have been telling lies for years have, like Hitler in 1941, been caught in their own lies. They apparently believed what they wrote and said and are now just as surprised as the majority of the people. But instead of being critical of themselves and their role, they are now looking for scapegoats. And they have found these among some local Muslim imams who, admittedly, have engaged in contradictions and manipulations in order to promote their own agenda.
In this situation, the arrogant answer of the government is to make a distinction between “good” and “bad” Muslims and to promote a national organization of the “good ones” while at the same time ignoring or slandering the “bad ones.” This may solve a concrete problem in the concrete situation where the government is desperately trying to get some allies among Muslims, but in the long run it most certainly will add fuel to the fire.
It Started More than 100 Years Ago
The present crisis cannot be explained only with the cartoons and the arrogance of the Danish ruling circles, although they certainly contributed a lot. The real explanation should be found in the repeated humiliations that the Muslim peoples have suffered for more than 100 years, first under the rule of European colonialism and now in the form of joint U.S. and European imperialist domination with constant aggressions, occupations and impositions of Western imperialist interests in their countries. The Muslim reaction has been on its way for a long time. In this light, it is completely fortuitous that it was exactly Denmark and the cartoons that started the present revolt among the Muslim peoples. It would have come sooner or later.
On the surface, the present revolt is taking the form of a clash between civilizations, a kind of religious war, with all the irrational fanaticism, different agendas, dangers and unclear dividing lines this brings about. But in its essence, it is an important anti-imperialist movement directed against world imperialism headed by the United States of America and with Denmark as an active and arrogant little brother. As Danish communists we greet this movement and hope that it will find still clearer and more consequent expressions.
However, the fact that it has taken a religious form mixed with fanaticism and different local and regional agendas also creates confusion and secondary contradictions and makes it more complex to forge an international anti-imperialist front. The burning of Danish flags and national symbols, for example, however justified it may be, insults the national feelings of a considerable part of the Danish population and contribute in this way to the strengthening of the rightist and extremist parties. According to the latest opinion polls, the support for the extremist Danish People’s Party has grown considerably during the last weeks and it is now almost catching up with the Social Democratic Party and thus becoming the second biggest party in Denmark.
However, the national situation is very contradictory. Opinion polls also show that while almost 80 per cent of the population supports Jyllands Posten when it refuses to make a real apology, there is, at the same time, a growing number of people, who now constitute a little more that half the population, that understand why Muslims feel insulted by the cartoons. Spontaneous manifestations and demonstrations for tolerance and solidarity are emerging everywhere. Another positive result of the revolt in the Muslim countries is that a third of the Danish soldiers who were expected to be sent to Iraq in the near future now refuse to go. Hence, an important battle of ideas is taking place within Danish society.
Position of Danish Communists
The Communist Party of Denmark (Marxist-Leninist), which together with other communist forces is preparing the founding of a New Communist Party at a Unification Congress in November, is taking an active part in the present class struggle and battle of ideas. Our main line of activity is the struggle for the unity of the working class and the mobilization of the local and national trade union movement against the dividing policy of the ruling bourgeoisie. At the same time, we demand that the editors of Jyllands Posten should make a clear-cut apology for printing the cartoons and that the government should follow up in such a way that it becomes absolutely clear that it repudiates the provocation.
Our party is also active in the preparation for the big anti-war demonstrations on March 18, which will take place under the broad banner of withdrawing the troops from Iraq. At the same time, we are stepping up our solidarity with the Iraqi resistance movement and the Palestinian people while we are condemning the imperialist pressure and threats against Iran, Syria and other independent countries. We believe that the present crisis should be used to strengthen the anti-imperialist movement of solidarity with the oppressed peoples all over the world.
Finally, we wish to say to our Muslim brothers and sisters that at the end of day we have the same enemies, world imperialism headed by the Bush administration, and that we should unite in a broad international front in order to fight this enemy number one of humanity.
Sven Tarp, International Relations Secretary, Communist Party of Denmark Marxist-Leninist
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Opposition to Bush Reaction Continues to Mount
Across the country more and more people are joining the organized efforts to reject Bush reaction and defend the rights of all, at home and abroad. Anger with the politicians for their refusal to impeach President George W. Bush is growing, as are demands for action now to bring all the troops home now. Recent actions include:
Hundreds of Vermonters demonstrated on February 11 in front of the statehouse to demand that Vermont’s elected representatives call on President Bush to immediately remove all troops from Iraq. The rally included Iraq war veterans who have refused to serve and many military families. Town meetings across Vermont have demanded that the governor and state representatives act to have the Vermont National Guard brought home from Iraq. Legislation is currently before the Vermont House of Representatives.
The Bush Crimes Commission recently held its final session. The Commission has been hearing testimony from victims, peoples’ representatives and many others on Bush war crimes. At the final session it released its preliminary findings — that the Bush regime is guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
On February 4, thousands rallied in Washington, DC and marched around the White House as part of efforts to Drive Out the Bush Regime! The action followed numerous demonstrations across the country on the night of Bush’s State of the Union speech.
A new student group at the University of California at Santa Barbara is also joining the impeachment organizing, targeting Bush’s spying. Students for Impeachment is currently gathering signatures to petition for support in stopping Bush’s crimes. The petition and leafleting have received wide support among the students. The group will hold a rally Thursday, March 2 on campus. It will include speakers and further information about the impeachment procedures and Bush’s broad spying on the people.
In Newfane, Vermont, people will use their upcoming town meeting to vote on a resolution calling for Bush’s impeachment. Selectboard member Dan DeWalt who wrote the resolution said, “We have an immoral government operating illegally. I feel morally compelled to act.”
To date, more than 35,000 citizens and 25 members of Congress have signed a petition by Representative John Conyers of Michigan (House Resolution 635) calling for the impeachment of Bush and the numbers are growing daily. The people are also targeting Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld for impeachment. Efforts are also underway in Britain to impeach Prime Minister Tony Blair.
In addition, expressing the broad demands among the people for impeachment, state and county organizations of the Democratic Party are demanding legislation to impeach Bush. On January 28, the North Carolina Democratic Party passed a resolution calling on Democratic Representatives in Congress to sign on to legislation to impeach President George W. Bush, Vice-president Dick Cheney, and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
In California, on January 6, the Arcata City Council passed a resolution demanding the impeachment or resignation of President Bush and Vice President Cheney, citing violations of international and constitutional law. In Marin County, north of San Francisco, the Democratic Central Committee of Marin approved a resolution early that calls for the impeachment of President Bush for illegal domestic wiretapping of American citizens. As well, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors is considering a resolution calling for the impeachment of Bush and Cheney. The Board is the legislative branch of the City and County of San Francisco.
In Oregon, a former state senator presented a resolution calling for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney to the Multnomah County Democratic Central Committee February 9. The resolution, which passed the Committee’s agenda subcommittee last month, is expected to pass.
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Green Party Cites War Crimes, Lawlessness
Congress Must Impeach Bush and Cheney
Citing a litany of alleged high crimes and misdemeanors, abuses of power, and violations of the U.S. Constitution, Green Party leaders urged Congress to initiate impeachment proceedings against President George W. Bush and Vice President Cheney as soon as possible.
“The evidence that President Bush has abused his office and betrayed the trust of the American people is now so overwhelming that failure to undertake impeachment would make Congress even more complicit in this administration’s lawlessness,” said Nan Garrett, Georgia Green Party co-chair and spokesperson for the National Women’s Caucus. “Three more years of Bush and Cheney will do lasting damage to the rule of law and result in even more death and destruction under Bush’s reckless policies.”
“The Bush Administration blocked an independent probe into 9/11 while making fraudulent statements about the reasons for invading Iraq, and now admits that it spies on American citizens in disregard of legal limits. What more does Congress need before it says enough is enough?” Ms. Garrett added.
The Green Party of the United States called for Congress to commence impeachment of President Bush in July, 2003, after he ordered the invasion of Iraq. The resolution accused the President of numerous deceptions to justify the invasion, as well as violations of the U.S. Constitution (restriction in Article II on the deployment of Armed Forces to defense of U.S. borders; required adherence to international treaties in Article VI) and of international law (U.N. Charter; Geneva conventions).
“In early 2003, there already existed credible evidence that the war was based on White House fraud: false claims that Saddam Hussein possessed WMDs, sought nuclear weapons materials, and colluded with al Qaeda. But most Democrats feared accusations that they’d be soft on terrorism and unpatriotic if they criticized the invasion,” said Jody Grage Haug, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States. “Three years later, after more than 2,100 U.S. troop deaths, tens of thousands of dead Iraqi civilians, a continuing military quagmire in Iraq, and indications that the invasion and occupation inflamed anti-U.S. sentiment around the world, especially in Islamic nations, some Democrats have caught up to the Green Party.”
In addition to White House falsehoods leading up to the war on Iraq, Greens listed other grounds for impeachment:
President Bush ordered the National Security Agency to spy on American citizens without obtaining a warrant in accord with the Fourth Amendment and the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Recent FBI targets of surveillance (nonviolent peace and human rights organizations, Catholic Workers Group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Vegan Community Project) prove that his administration’s goals have more to do with politics than with preventing terrorism. Mr. Bush’s insistence that such surveillance is justified and will continue is further proof of his contempt for the law.
Numerous Bush Administration policies — denial of due process, extraordinary rendition, secret detention centers, and torture at various sites, including Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay — have violated U.S. and international law. Vice President Cheney attempted to gain a license from Congress for torture, even though it has been proven ineffective for gathering accurate information (e.g., Ibn Al Shaykh Al Libi’s testimony about links between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda, later recanted). Greens noted that the agreement reached by Mr. Bush and Sen. John McCain purportedly outlawing torture allows a significant loophole (see “Tortured Logic: McCain-Bush deal has a big loophole” by James Ridgeway with Michael Roston, The Village Voice, December 19, 2005).
Congress must investigate whether the White House endorsed the use of outlawed weapons materials such as depleted uranium, which causes radioactive contamination of humans (U.S. troops as well as Iraqi civilians) and the environment; white phosphorus, a chemical whose use in warfare is proscribed by international agreement; and cluster bombs, which do not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Their use in Iraq is a war crime for which either the President himself or the Defense Department must be held accountable. Other war crimes, which require impeachment if based on White House orders, include the military targeting of journalists, individual reporters as well as television stations (Al Jazeera and Abu Dhabi), and looting of hospitals, museums, and private homes. “Many Americans have realized that the Bush-Cheney ideology is about installing a permanent corporate elite in power, buttressed by military power and public fear over perceived and fabricated threats, while missing real dangers to our security,” said Jake Schneider, treasurer of the Green Party of the United States. “The response to Katrina, dismissed evidence of global warming, manipulated scientific research, energy policy crafted in secret with corporate lobbies, new prescription drug policy, attack on Social Security, 2000 and 2004 election irregularities, and other evidence should lay to rest any illusion about this Administration’s disregard for the interests of the American people.”
CONTACT: Green Party of the United States Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, mclarty@greens.org Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@greens.org
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Campaign to Censure Bush and Cheney
The AfterDowningStreet.org coalition, an alliance of more than 100 grassroots organizations, recently launched a campaign called CensureBush.org in order to support new legislation introduced by Congressman John Conyers that would censure President Bush and Vice President Cheney and create a select committee to investigate the Administration’s possible crimes and make recommendations regarding grounds for impeachment.
House Resolution (H.R.) 635 would create a select committee to investigate the Administration’s intent to go to war before congressional authorization, manipulation of pre-war intelligence, encouraging and countenancing torture, and retaliating against critics, and to make recommendations regarding grounds for possible impeachment.
H.R.636 and H.R.637 would censure, respectively, Bush and Cheney for failing to respond to requests for information concerning allegations that they and others in the Administration misled Congress and the American people regarding the decision to go to war in Iraq, misstated and manipulated intelligence information regarding the justification for the war, countenanced torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment of persons in Iraq, and permitted inappropriate retaliation against critics of the Administration, for failing to adequately account for certain misstatements they made regarding the war, and – in the case of President Bush – for failing to comply with Executive Order 12958. (Executive Order 12958, issued in 1995 by former President Bill Clinton, seeks to promote openness in government by prescribing a uniform system for classifying, safeguarding, and declassifying national security information.)
The After Downing Street / Censure Bush Coalition organized town hall forums around the country on January 7th, with impeachment being a main demand. The campaign continues to gain momentum as the majority of Americans call for impeachment.
Conyers Report Calls for Censure of Bush and Cheney
Representative John Conyers, Jr., Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, released the following statement regarding release of a staff report entitled “The Constitution in Crisis: The Downing Street Minutes and Deception, Manipulation, Torture, Retributions and Cover-ups in the Iraq War.”
“The Report is my best effort to examine all of the charges of misconduct by the Bush Administration concerning the Iraq War.
“In brief, we have found that there is substantial evidence the President, the Vice-President and other high ranking members of the Bush Administration misled Congress and the American people regarding the decision to go to war in Iraq; misstated and manipulated intelligence information regarding the justification for such war; countenanced torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in Iraq; and permitted inappropriate retaliation against critics of their Administration. There is at least a prima facie case from these actions that federal laws have been violated - from false statements to Congress to retaliating against Administration critics.…
“The Report rejects the frequent contention by the Bush Administration that their pre-war conduct has been reviewed and they have been exonerated. No entity has ever considered whether the Administration misled Americans about the decision to go to War, and the Senate Intelligence Committee has not yet conducted a review of pre-war intelligence information, while the Silberman-Robb report specifically cautioned, that intelligence manipulation “was not part of our inquiry.” There has also not been any independent inquiry concerning torture and other legal violations in Iraq; nor has there been an independent review of the pattern of cover-ups and political retribution by the Bush Administration against its critics, other than the very narrow and still ongoing inquiry of Special Counsel Fitzgerald.”
The Conyers Report is available at: www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/iraqrept. html
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Protests Oppose FBI Raids In Puerto Rico
Actions at the U.S. federal building February 13 protested a wave of repression by the FBI now occurring against the independence movement in Puerto Rico. New York City was the site of a main demonstration and similar protests took place elsewhere.
At the U.S. Federal Building in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on February 11, the day following the attacks, more than 1,000 Puerto Ricans protested, demanding an end to the repression and calling for demonstrations internationally.
According to the FBI, the current attacks are being done in the name of “ preventing a potential domestic terrorist attack.” They included raids on five homes and one business and arrests of well-known leaders of the resistance movement in Puerto Rico. Protesters rejected the claims of the U.S. that Puerto Rican resistance is “terrorism,” and emphasized that by international law, including UN standards, it is U.S. colonialism that is a crime.
The claim by the FBI of “preventing terrorism,” is a means to hide the daily violence and terrorism of U.S. colonialism and deny the legitimate right of the Puerto Rican people to fight for their independence by any means necessary. Buffalo Forum condemns U.S. actions and joins the peoples worldwide demanding Puerto Rico for the Puerto Ricans! U.S. Out Now!
The longtime attorney for Filiberto, Luis F. Abreu Elias gave the following report of the FBI actions and resistance among the people:
“Today [2/10] in Puerto Rico various searches of homes and arrests are being carried out the FBI. Some of those arrested are Lilliana Laboy the labor leader and Executive Secretary of the Caribbean and Latin American Coordinating Group of Puerto Rico and William Mohler, pro-independence community leader who lives in the town of Limón, Mayaguez. In addition, José Rodríguez, a pro-independence activist, town leader and retiree was also arrested. They are also searching and ransacking their homes since the early hours of this morning. This is yet another escalation of FBI persecution due to the upsurge and militancy of the independence movement since the assassination of Filiberto Ojeda Ríos.
“They have used mustard gas on the wife of William Mohler even when she offered no resistance. When they went at dawn to search Mohler’s home only his wife was there. The press says that they have 20 additional arrest warrants and it is not known if they are for arrests and search or just for searches. They are looking for Norberto Cintrón Fiallo a well-known independence leader and a prominent member of the Coordinating Group. His compañeras apartment was searched for more than 11 hours.
“They brought FBI agents from Miami and other states. They make a show of force using long range weapons and firearms and dozens of cars. At each home they have dozens of agents. One hundred Boricuas just confronted the FBI in front of the apartment of Norberto Cintrón’s compañera. They have thrown rocks at the FBI and have broken the car windows of the FBI who have fled while throwing mustard gas with guns drawn. The FBI agents have been spat upon by the people as they fled the scene. At this moment the press entered the apartment of Doña Lilliana.
“The press reports that the apartment of Compañera Lilliana Labory was left destroyed by the FBI. Reporters were thrown on the ground by the FBI. There are injured among the reporters.
“We shall keep you informed about this great escalation of hitlerian fascism by Hitler’s inheritor, George Bush. The indignation in Puerto Rico grows and hundreds of people have hit the streets near the places where these break-ins are taking place.
“This Yankee Gestapo will not be able to stop the struggle for independence.”
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