[Marxism] How widespread is the resistance to the U.S. in Iraq?

[<lshan@xxxxxxx>]

>From the December 16th Sydney Morning Herald comes this article by Sami
Ramadani, a political refugee from Saddam's regime and now a senior lecturer
in sociology at London Metropolitan University:


Contrary to American claims, the resistance will grow now that Saddam has
been found, writes Sami Ramadani.

The joy was deep, but the pain, too, was overwhelming as I remembered
relatives and friends who lost their lives opposing Saddam Hussein's tyranny
or in his wars.

I remember my dearest friend, Hazim, whom I hugged goodbye in 1969 at the
canteen of the college of medicine in Baghdad. I never saw him again.
Although only 15, Hazim had the courage to distribute anti-Baathist leaflets
at our school in Baghdad within months of the 1963 CIA-backed coup that
brought the Baathists to power. I remember, too, my dear friend Ghassan, who
died in a hospital in Canada after many years in exile. He didn't live to
see the moment he had waited so long for.

But here it was, at last: Saddam's surrender in ignominy. However, this
delightful moment - enjoyed by all the Iraqis I spoke to as the news of his
capture was breaking - was soured by the fact that it was Iraq's newly
appointed tyrant, Paul Bremer, doing the boasting: "Ladies and gentlemen ...
we got him."

What will the Americans do with their captive? Is Saddam going to face a
trial? Will the truth of his mass murders and crimes come out? Will the
trial shed light on how the US backed him and supplied him with chemical
weapons? Will it reveal how the US encouraged him to launch the war on Iran,
causing the death of a million Iranians and Iraqis? Will the trial go into
the alliances with and support for Saddam by so many who are now in the
US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council? The dark clouds over Iraq haven't
lifted yet.

Thousands of Iraqi civilians have been killed by the unjust and immoral
US-led war, and the death toll continues to rise as innocent people are
being killed in military raids, bombardments and Sharon-style collective
punishment, and harmed by the depleted uranium shells used by the forces. So
at this moment of joy, other questions keep intruding: who is going to try
Bremer, Bush, Rumsfeld and Blair? Will Iraq ever be free?

One thing I do know: Saddam was not leading the resistance from his dirty
little hole. This was acknowledged yesterday by an unlikely source - Sherif
bin Ali, a relative of the last Iraqi king, Faisal II, and a strong
supporter of the US-led invasion.

"The truth must be spelt out," he said. "Saddam has nothing to do with the
resistance. It is time to call on the resistance to declare a truce."

It has suited the US to blame Saddam for the resistance to the occupation
and to use him as a pretext for the continued occupation. But bin Ali is
merely confirming what the CIA and US Congress sources have recently
confirmed: that there are no fewer than 15 organisations involved in the
resistance, which enjoys widespread support.

Saddam's surrender is likely to embolden the political forces in Iraq which,
until now, feared that a call for the immediate end to the occupation might
help Saddam return to power.

The largely peaceful resistance in Baghdad and the so-called Shia areas of
Iraq will also attract greater attention. In the past two weeks, union
leaders in Baghdad and the south have been arrested. The occupation
authorities shamelessly used Saddam's 1987 law barring union activity within
state institutions.

But such opposition will be difficult to suppress. This week in Hilla, a
so-called Shia city, a militant but peaceful mass insurrection succeeded in
deposing Iskander Jawad Witwit, the US-appointed governor. The thousands who
besieged the governor's office called for free elections to replace him.

Now that Saddam is no longer a bogyman to scare the people with, union and
other mass opposition is likely to increase, complementing and coalescing
with the armed opposition.

One demand is now uniting nearly all Iraqis, from armed resisters to
unionists to Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani: elections. And it is the one
demand to which the US has refused to agree, because it has accurately
assessed the likely result. That is also why it swiftly moved to stop
elections of city mayors and why, a few weeks ago, it sacked the elected
dean of Baghdad university after his outspoken criticisms of the occupation
authorities.

Saddam's ignominious end is likely to weaken US-led efforts to divide the
Iraqis along sectarian and national lines. In memory of all those who died
resisting Saddam's tyranny, the peaceful and armed resistance is likely to
intensify and attract greater support across the world, including that of
the American people.


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