Re: Liberal redbaiting escalates

[gdunkel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

There was a sharp political struggle that went on in 1991 about
opposition to the first war against Iraq.  One side held to the slogan:
Sanctions, not war.  The other -- the IAC and others -- opposed the war
AND sanctions, seeing sanctions as just another form of warfare.

Who split from whom is a question that is important, one on which I
certainly have an opinion, but my point is this: opposing sanctions was
not supporting Sadam Hussein, it was supporting the Iraqi people.

The US/UN sanctions cost the lives of 1.5 million Iraqis. Over 500,000 of
them were children.

If opposing the policies that led to all these children's deaths is
supporting Sadam, as cmrd Guttman charges, then I guess the IAC, and
me, do indeed support him.

If this opposition to children's deaths flows from a deep and strong
opposition to US imperialism and its crimes, then equating the IAC's
opposition to sanctions as support for Sadam, as something to be
condemned, is a backhanded way of supporting sanctions.

/greg
....
> right. During the last Iraqi war, the IAC had to have a rally in Washington
> separate from most other peace groups, because their message was that they
> supported Saddam Hussein as well as being against the war. This time they
> modified the message so that there could be a real coalition. Those on the
> left, which includes the most uptight liberal and the fringiest radical,
> have to start learning to work together to fight the common enemy and not
> each other if we are ever going to effect real change. This is something the
> right has learned much too well.
>
> -- Cheryl Guttman
>


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