RE: [Marxism] Sadr appeal to US public

["David McDonald" <dbmcdonald@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

-----Original Message-----
From: marxism-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:marxism-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Gary MacLennan
Sent: Wednesday, April 07, 2004 9:04 PM
To: Activists and scholars in Marxist tradition
Subject: Re: [Marxism] Sadr appeal to US public


Gary MacLennan:

It remains to be seen whether the rebels in Iraq can hold onto the
territory they have claimed over the last few  days.  I do not think so
myself.  Because it is now clear that the Americans are prepared to
slaughter thousands to achieve 'full spectrum dominance'.

David replies:

It is unnecessary to predict one way or another whether Iraqis can hold
territory at this stage of the insurrection.

The closest parallel I know of is the Tet offensive. I have called Tet
the greatest propaganda action of all history on this list because its
intention was never to win and secure territory, but to expose and
destroy the US claim that pacification of Vietnam was proceeding apace.
Over 90% of the NLF forces in South Vietnam died in Tet, but the action
was always upheld by the North Vietnamese as the key turning point in
the American part of their war of liberation the Vietnamese call the
Thirty Years War (1945-75). The Tet offensive did not result in the
permanent conquest of any territory by the Vietnamese liberation forces.
Its effect on people in America was monumental.

Likewise, with the current insurrectionary acts all over Iraq, the main
points are: 1. to give the lie to to the idea the occupation is going
well or at least well enough so that ordinary people in the US can avoid
thinking about it; 2. demonstrate the breadth and depth of the
resistance forces; 3. Show that the US forces can be attacked, killed,
driven back, and otherwise confronted; 4. Show solidarity between the
Shia and Sunni; 5. force the US to call for escalation of the size of
the occupation forces; 5. drive further wedges between the US and
various coalition partners (note the recent capture of Japanese and S.
Korean nationals and the attendant demand for the removal of nationals
of those countries from Iraq on pain of death for the captured). The
holding of territory is unnecessary to accomplish any of these goals,
and it ties down resistance forces so they can be more easily targeted
by the US. At some point, of course, this war will turn territorial, as
it inevitably did in Vietnam.


_______________________________________________
Marxism mailing list
Marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism