Democratic Palestine : 16 (ص 31)
غرض
- عنوان
- Democratic Palestine : 16 (ص 31)
- المحتوى
-
From Nicaragua to Afghanistan
Reagan's Soldiers of Fortune
Though situated on three different
continents, Nicaragua, Afghanistan and
Angola have much in common. Most
prominently, they are led by relatively
new, revolutionary governments that
have embarked on a development pro-
cess to pull their people out of poverty
and backwardness. All three have
-sought and acquired the support of prog-
ressive forces around the world, espe-
cially the socialist community. For
exactly these reasons, all are targeted
by a special brand of imperialist aggres-
sion: ClA-directed, indigenous counter-
revolutionary forces. This is a main ele-
ment in the Reagan Administration's
global crusade against communism and
the right of the peoples to determine
their own future.
The turn of the year witnessed a
marked escalation of the US administra-
tion’s open support to counterrevolution.
There was a flood of demagogy to justify
aiding forces that are little more than
paid saboteurs. In his State of the Union
address, Reagan pledged «moral and
material assistance» to «freedom fight-
ers» in Afghanistan, Nicaragua, Angola
and Cambodia. On January 21st, the
administration announced plans to seek
$100 million, the bulk of it ($70 million)
military aid, for the contras, almost four
times what the US Congress approved
last year, after considerable squabbling.
Also in late January, the administra-
tion spoke of seeking funds for UNITA,
chief agent in the undeclared war on
Angola. UNITA leader Savimbi arrived in
Washington to the type of welcome usu-
ally reserved for heads of state - a pat on
the head for ten years of service to the
CIA and the apartheid regime of South
Africa. Reagan assured Savimbi: «Your
cause is our cause.» Public aid propos-
als were only outlined for the contras
however. Apparently, the Reagan
admiriistration thinks that covert funding
of UNITA and the counterrevolutionaries
in Afghanistan will do for the time being,
while it concentrates on a propaganda
campaign to make more overt support
feasible in the future.
Reagan devoted special speeches
to alleged Soviet «atrocities» in Af-
ghanistan. This was his way of respond-
ing to indications that the Afghani gov-
ernment and the Soviet Union are
interested in a peaceful settlement, if
there are guarantees that all foreign
interference is halted. This is now a
realistic possibility in view of the military
setbacks suffered by the counter-
revolutionaries, and the increasing
number of Afghani refugees in Pakistan,
who have responded to the govern-
ment'’s call for their retum. (A main task
for the counterrevolutionaries today is
preventing their return.) The last thing
the Reagan Administration wants is a
negotiated solution, for this would
remove a major pivot in its secret war on
the Soviet Union. US Attorney General
Edwin Meese made a late March pil-
grimage to the frontlines - almost. Actu-
ally he stayed safely inside Pakistan
where the counterrevolutionaries are
based, and exhorted to more struggle
against «the Soviet empire.»
Margaret Thatcher, who has
steered clear of genuine freedom fight-
ers like the PLO and ANC, joined
Reagan's drive to lend credibility to the
Afghani mercenaries. On March 11th,
she and the British foreign minister
received Abdul Haq, military comman-
der of Hezbi Islami (Islamic Party) which,
inter alia, claimed the September 1984
bomb in Kabul airport in which 28 per-
sons died, 12 of them family members
bidding farewell to children travelling to
study abroad. Some airport attacks, it
seems, are legitimate - if only ‘third
world’ citizens die!
The Reagan Administration has
moreover upped the military ante by
covertly supply{ng Stinger surface-to-air
missiles to the counterrevolutionaries in
Angola and Afghanistan - and reportedly
also in Nicaragua. This sets a precedent
as the US has previously supplied
Soviet or Chinese-made arms purch-
ased on the international arms market.
In April 1985, the contras received
SAM7s from the US, a clear escalation
as it is the first time irregular forces on
the continent have been supplied with
surface-to-air missiles (Barricada Inter-
nacional, December 12, 1985).
Mercenaries
Despite US officials’ talk about
«freedom fighters», the counterre-
volutionaries operating against Nica-
ragua, Afghanistan and Angola are, in
the last analysis, mercenaries. As if to
prove the point, the leader of one
Afghani gang, Habibullah Mayar, was a
guest speaker at the most recent con-
vention held in Las Vegas by Soldiers of pP
Demonstration in Nicaragua against the US attack on Libya and funding to the contras.
ae Tes ip Stine - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 16
- تاريخ
- مايو ١٩٨٦
- المنشئ
- الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين
Contribute
Position: 73768 (1 views)