Re: Iraq War, Saddam Hussein.

[Adam Rose <adam@xxxxxxxx>]

>
> I think the comparison with the Vietnam war is a poor one at best. I'd be
> interested to hear what the general mood in Britain was, since it was
> reported to be the only country as gung-ho as the U.S.

There wasn't a general mood. Some people were for it, others against.
Most were open to the argument that it was a war for oil, but still
supported it. There were some sizeable demonstrations against it,
which had an inspiring mixture of politicos and "ordinary people"
on it ( I particularly remember a group of school students aged
about 14 - 16 ).

Personally, where I worked at the time, there were more members of
the "Committee to Stop War in the Gulf" than there were in the
union !

People who were active socialists during the Falklands war in the
early 80's said the mood was much less gung ho over Iraq.

> Over here,
> everybody, with the exception of maybe a million peaceniks was patriotic
> and jingoistic as hell about it. During those months, it made me physically
> ill to think I was an American. Rich, poor, workers, capitalists, everybody
> wanted to bomb the Iraqis to hell. Same for the Iranians during the hostage
> crisis in 79. To say otherwise is to fool ourselves and to try to cover up
> the appalling inhumanity that ordinary people are capable of.
>

I don't believe it was that bad - I saw some pretty impressive US demos on TV.
Besides, all this just reinforces the comparison with Vietnam. The anti -
Vietnam war movement started far smaller than the anti gulf war movement,
which drew on the anti war tradition built in the 60's + 70's.

I'm not arguing that the glass was full - but you shouldn't argue that it
was empty.

Adam.

Adam Rose
SWP
Manchester
UK


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