Democratic Palestine : 27 (ص 44)
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- Democratic Palestine : 27 (ص 44)
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US Warship Guadalcanal in the Gulf
prop exercises than serious attempts to
undermine US presence, the Islamic
Republic’s rhetoric against «the Great
Satan» has a hollow ring. Actually, the
Iranian leadership’s intransigence and
expansion of the war zone had three
results that are much to the US’s liking.
One, it gave the excuse for upgraded
US intervention. Two, it further in-
flamed chauvinism on both sides of the
war front, allowing the reactionary
regimes to reunite the Arab ranks (with
few exceptions) against a secondary
enemy and for closer military coopera-
tion with the US. Third, it offered up
its own people and resources as a
testing ground for Reagan’s air-land-
sea battle plans.
The US attacks have served as much
needed maneuvers with live ammuni-
tion to test US special forces and im-
prove coordination between the dif-
ferent armed services. A week before
the ambush of the Iran Ajr, US Navy
Admiral Crowe visited the Gulf with a
plan cleared by Reagan for discovering
and foiling Iranian minelaying, and to
follow up implementation of the 1986
defense reorganization act for shorten-
ing the chain of command, increasing
the powers of theater commanders and
putting the assets of all the services at
their disposal - in short, making death
and destruction more efficient.
The ambush itself involved Air Force
spy planes and probably satellites, the
AWAGCS stationed in Saudi Arabia and
the Orion P-3s based in Oman, Navy
ships and commandos (SEALs) and the
elite Army helicopter unit called the
Nightstalkers. This unit, officially
called Task Force 160, was formed in
1981 and trained for storms and night
flying, after the US’s debacle in the
desert trying to retrieve hostages from
Iran in 1980. Task Force 160 partici-
pated in the invasion of Grenada, and
like the SEALs, has been linked to the
now supposedly disbanded Seaspray
unit that joined the CIA’s attacks on
Nicaragua’s coast.
44
The attack on the Iran Ajr was
deemed the US’s first military success
in the wake of a string of fiascos in the
Middle East, and 78% of the American
public voiced approval - a pattern
evidenced in relation to the ensuing at-
tacks as well. Not only could Reagan
give his forces battle - training and
reassure local reactionaries; the ad-
ministration is capitalizing on its war
against Iran to restore its domestic
prestige.
NATO AND ARAB
COOPERATION
With over 40 warships, 15,000 sailors
and a barge converted into a floating
naval base in the central Gulf, the US
hopes to recoup its active leadership of
both the imperialist and Arab reac-
tionary alliance. With its major NATO
allies involved in coordinated action, at
least in relation to minesweeping, the
US is in an ideal position to demand
more military coordination with the
Gulf states, a goal it has sought since
the 1979 demise of the Shah regime and
the formation of the Rapid Deployment
Forces. Some Gulf states, despite
public denials, are indirectly taking part
in the war on Iran, mobilizing their
forces and pledging landing rights and
other facilities to the US forces. The
long-delayed and hidden military role
of the Gulf Cooperation Council is
becoming more pronounced. Most im-
portant, Egypt is reportedly sending
pilots and military equipment to sup-
port Kuwait against Iran, a military
precursor to the Arab Summit’s deci-
sion that left Arab states free to restore
relations with the Camp David regime.
In return, the Saudis, together with the
UAE and Kuwait, have worked out an
economic aid package to help the
Egyptian regime out of its economic
problems, for which the US refuses to
provide genuine aid.
Still, despite the apparent US success
in the Gulf, Reagan has embarked on a
risky venture. So far, the US Congress
has given the administration an easy
time, delaying efforts to invoke the
War Powers Act that requires the
president to inform Congress within 48
hours of committing troops to an area
of «imminent hostilities» and to
withdraw them within 60 days unless
Congress agrees to an extension.
However, this will change if US forces
incur casualties of any significant size.
In the longer run, the US public and
Congress can also be disturbed about
the economic costs of the war effort.
For example, the destruction of the
Iranian offshore oil installation, which
the White House called a «measured
and appropriate response», was an
hour and a quarter attack in which
Navy destroyers fired 1,065 shells at a
cost of $1,000 each. Ironically, this
barely preceded the stock market crash
which most observors have attributed
to investors’ unease at the size of the
US budget and trade deficit - facts not
unrelated to the Reagan Administra-
tion’s flagrant military spending. As of
now, the Reagan Administration has
spent $1.9 trillion in the biggest
‘peacetime’ budget ever for the coun-
try. A new rearmament plan would re-
quire spending another $1.8 trillion by
1992, and the money simply may not be
there (Newsweek, November 16th).
It cannot be ruled out that the
Reagan Administration will blow up its
war on Iran to justify increased military
spending. Still, a host of domestic and
international factors mitigate against
the US involving itself in an all-out war.
The Reagan Administration’s tilt
towards Iraq does not extend to the
point of insuring an Iraqi victory in the
war. Rather it is negatively determined
-to ward off the upheaval which an
Iranian victory would almost certainly
unleash, for this would threaten the
pro-US, oil monarchies. The US con-
tinues to view the Gulf war as a way of
weakening both Iraq and Iran, while
simultaneously tightening its own
military network in the region.
Exploiting the political contradic-
tions that the US may face, if it con-
tinues its Gulf adventure, requires a
mature assessment of reality and a
consistent anti-imperialist stand. Un-
fortunately, neither of the Gulf war
combatants have exhibited such
qualities, thus condemning their own
people and resources to continuing the
vicious cycle of destruction.
dateline: November 20th. e - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 27
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