Kraven Moorehead

The Antiwar Movement and the Iraqi Elections


1) Election Under Occupation

The media theater called the Iraqi election is under way.
U.S. television anchor people are broadcasting live from
Baghdad, breathlessly describing the preparations for
Sunday's display of so-called democracy.

It is important to emphasive the circumstances under which
this election is being held. More than 150,000 U.S.
troops occupy the country, patrolling the streets with
guns trained on Iraqi civilians. Iraq is under a state of
emergency, with expanded police powers and a curfew.

This is and election at gunpoint, which will be supervised
by U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte. Negroponte built an
impressive resume as a brutal enforcer of U.S. policy
through murder, rape, and torture. Negroponte served as
U.S. Ambassador to Honduras from 1981-1985; a period
during which Honduras was the launching pad from which the
Reagan administration conducted its violent attacks on the
people of Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala. The
U.S-backed atrocities, which were condemned by the
International World Court in the Hague, included
kidnappings, rape, torture and killing of suspected
dissidents. Reports from the Inter-American Commission on
Human Rights in Honduras alleged that Negroponte oversaw
the expansion of U.S training camp and military base on
Honduran territory, where the U.S. trained Contra
terrorists, and where the military secretly detained,
tortured and executed Honduran suspected dissidents.

This is the person the Bush Administration would have us
believe is going to bring democracy to Iraq.

Assisting him will be two US-funded organizations with
long records of manipulating overseas elections on behalf
of U.S. corporate interests, the National Democratic
Institute for International Affairs (NDI) and the
International Republican Institute (IRI). These groups,
both of which are tied to covert plans to install
US-favored regimes overseas, are among organizations that
have been given more than $80 million for political
activities in Iraq.

Both organizations work closely with the National
Endowment for Democracy and the U.S. Agency for
International Development, long used by the CIA for covert
operations abroad. They were, for example, involved in
orchestrating the failed coup and recall referendum in
Venezuela in an attempt to remove the democratically
elected and popular President Hugo Chavez.

This election is being conducted at gunpoint, administered
by a war criminal, and stage-managed by CIA front
companies. To pretend that this has anything to do with
democracy is outrageous. The Iraqi people recognize this
--among expatriates, 90 percent haven't even bothered to
register to vote on Sunday.

What, then is the purpose of the phony election? It is
actually directed at the U.S. public, which is growing
increasingly disillusioned with the war. The sole intent
of the election is to provide legitimacy for the
occupation, to marginalize the resistance movement, and
create an illusion of progress. The election, like the
phony transfer of power, will change nothing on the ground
in Iraq. On January 31, the day after the election, more
than 150,000 U.S. troops will still occupy Iraq, the
torture chambers of Abu Ghraib will still be full of Iraqi
prisoners, and CIA employee Iyad Allawi will still be the
U.S.-appointed dictator.


2) The Iraqi People Have Already Voted -- Against the
Occupation

The Iraqi people have already expressed their will; they
are overwhelmingly opposed to the occupation of their
country. The majority of Iraqi people want the U.S.
troops to leave and do not believe that the U.S. and
Britain should be involved in holding elections in Iraq,
according to several polls.

Many have already cast their ballot against colonial
occupation by joining the nationwide uprising. The
intelligence chief for the puppet regime in Iraq, General
Mohamed Abdullah Shahwani, admitted that the resistance
now numbers more than 200,000.

The resistance is made up of many difference forces, with
different ideologies and goals. They are united by the
determination to free their country from U.S. occupation.

The right of people to resist occupation by arms is a
basic right recognized under international law and the
Geneva Convention. The people of Iraq have a right to
fight back against the occupation of their country, the
torture of their people, and the bombing of their cities.
They also have a right to expect the solidarity of all
who oppose the criminal war. It is not the role of the
antiwar movement to debate the ideology or tactics of the
resistance; it is our job to stand in solidarity with them
and do everything possible to assist them by working to
end the occupation of their country.


3) What Next for the Antiwar Movement?

The phony elections will not silence the Iraqi resistance.
It is important to remember that in the months since the
last time the U.S. attempted to put an "Iraqi face" on the
occupation, with the phony transfer of power and
appointment of Iyad Allawi as puppet dictator, the
resistance has spread and become more sophisticated and
more entrenched.

As the resistance grows, we in the U.S. have an obligation
not to be deterred by false elections or talk of
"timetables." We must stand with the people of Iraq and
take up their demand: the immediate, unconditional, and
complete withdrawal of all U.S. occupation forces.

We must organize a united struggle to end the occupation.
This is now more important than ever before. George W.
Bush made it clear in his inauguration sermon that he
intends to wage continual, global war. We must meet his
call to war with renewed determination and unity.

The global antiwar movement has called for massive
protests on the weekend of March 19-20. In the U.S., the
Troops Out Now Coalition is organizing local and regional
demonstrations to demand an end to the occupation,
including a massive regional convergence on Central Park
on March 19. The International Action Center, part of the
Troops Out Now Coalition, calls upon all progressive and
antiwar organizations to join us in the streets on March
19 & 20 to demand: "Troops Out Now!"



March 19
Troops Out Now!
March on Central Park in NYC!
Regional Demonstrations Across the U.S. & Worldwide


The International Action Center