Re: [Marxism] Obama aides

["Ruthless Critic of All that Exists" <ok.president+marxml@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Sat, Mar 8, 2008 at 7:46 PM, Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Mr. Hartal wrote:
> >But the strategy-study Matt Gonzalez cites says it takes 24 months
> >to withdraw all combat troops.
>
> You know something, I don't care if the strategy-study Matt Gonzalez
> cites says it will take 24 months. And I also don't care if 92
> percent of Iraqis backed the occupation as was the case in Panama.
> Revolutionary socialists oppose imperialist occupation of other
> nations.


The Iraqis aren't "backing" the occupation. The reason why  a plurality of
Iraqis  do not want the US forces to leave immediately, is not because they
like being occupied (they do not), but because they are rightly worried
that, at this point, the chaos unleashed after an abrupt withdrawal may put
their lives at even more risk than in the current situation. Human lives
(Iraqi lives) are at stake here.

To say "revolutionary socialists oppose imperialist occupation" sounds very
nice. Who can disagree with that sentiment. But we are not debating here
whether imperialist occupation should have been undertaken in the first
place. Obviously it should not have been. What we are discussing here is the
pace of the withdrawal.

When people in the third world see that  revolutionaries in the first  world
are unconcerned with the human cost (in terms of Iraqi lives) that this will
incur, and that revolutionaries in the first  world are not willing to
listen to what the Iraqis themselves are saying, why should people in the
third world ever trust revolutionaries in the first world?
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