[Marxism] Ralph Nader on Iraq: Gag me with a spoon!

["Walter Lippmann" <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Ralph Nader has come out with his
position on Iraq. It's rotten.

He's NOT for immediate withdrawal.
He's FOR continued foreign intervention, in a UN guise.
He's for "free and fair elections under international
        supervision". Iraq has had more than enough of
        "international supervision" in my opinion.

Personally I'd have preferred a dream ticket of Peter
Camejo and Cynthia McKinney, but Peter isn't running
and McKinney is running to regain her former seat as
the phony black woman who was put up by the Democratic
and Zionist machines to defeat her is already running
for another office, not having completed her one term
in McKinney's seat.

I'm registered in the California Peace and Freedom Party.
I voted for Leonard Peltier, who won the primary, and
PFP is a campaign worth supporting, in my opinion:
http://www.la-peaceandfreedom.org/


Walter Lippmann
==========================================



NADER'S POSITION:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2004-04-22-oppose_x.htm

Posted 4/22/2004 8:05 PM Updated 4/22/2004 8:33 PM
USA TODAY
Withdraw U.S. troops
By Ralph Nader

Every day our exposed military remains in war-torn Iraq,
we imperil U.S. security, drain our economy, ignore urgent
domestic needs and prevent Iraqi democratic self-rule. We
need to announce a withdrawal of our troops, not increase
them.

Calls by the major presidential candidates to indefinitely
"stay the course" spur the spiral of violence. A U.S.
presence serves as a magnet for insurrection, kidnapping,
terrorism and anarchy. Announcing a definite withdrawal and
ending the U.S. corporate takeover of the Iraqi economy and
oil will separate mainstream Iraqis from the insurgents and
give the vast majority of people there a stake in replacing
the occupation with independence.

Three steps to an announced withdrawal:

. Develop an appropriate peacekeeping force under United
Nations auspices from neutral nations with such experience
and from Islamic countries. This force should begin to
promptly replace all U.S. troops and civilian contractors.
Former general Wesley Clark described President Bush's
foreign policy as cowboy unilateralism that goes against
everything the U.S. is supposed to represent to the world.
It is time for the U.S. to return to the family of nations.
The U.S. will have to underwrite a portion of this
less-expensive short-term force.

. Free and fair elections should be held as soon as
possible under international supervision so democratic
self-rule can be put in place in Iraq and allow Iraq to
provide for its own security. Iraq is a country long
controlled by a brutal dictator, devastated by economic
sanctions and torn apart by war. Some autonomy for Sunnis,
Shiites and Kurds makes a new government more workable.
Iraq will sort out these issues more easily without the
presence of a U.S. occupying force and the projected 14
U.S. military bases. Iraqis see them as installing a puppet
government fronting for an indefinite military and
oil-industry occupation.

. The U.S. and others should provide interim humanitarian
aid to Iraq. Economic sanctions and war have caused
tremendous damage to the people, their children and the
Iraqi infrastructure. Until the 1991 Gulf War, Saddam
Hussein was a U.S. anti-communist ally who was also used to
keep Iran at bay. During the 1980s under President Reagan
and the first President Bush, U.S. corporations were
licensed to export materials to Iraq for chemical and
biological weapons. U.S. oil and other corporations should
not profit from the illegal invasion and occupation of
Iraq. Control over Iraqi oil and other assets should be
exercised by Iraqis.

Former general Clark said: "President Bush plays politics
with national security. Cowboy talk. The administration is
a threat to domestic liberty."

We need to free ourselves from the politics of fear and
support a stable way out of the worsening Iraq quagmire.

Ralph Nader is running for president as an independent
candidate.



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