https://themilitant.com/2018/09/15/iraq-protests-demand-govt-provide-services-end-to-tehran-interference/
Iraq protests demand gov’t provide services, end to Tehran interference
By Terry Evans
Vol. 82/No. 35
September 24, 2018
Protesters in Basra demand jobs, electricity, water and end to Iranian
intervention and meddling in Iraq. Thousands were killed fighting
Islamic State, now survivors face deepening crisis.
AP Photo/Nabil al-Jurani
Protesters in Basra demand jobs, electricity, water and end to Iranian
intervention and meddling in Iraq. Thousands were killed fighting
Islamic State, now survivors face deepening crisis.
Thousands of working people continue to join protests in Basra and
across southern Iraq against the government’s failure to provide basic
necessities and the deadly consequences of the Iranian rulers’ military
and political influence there.
The actions follow years of bloody sacrifice by working people to defeat
the hated Islamic State, which had seized and imposed their reactionary
rule over large parts of the oil-rich country. In 2014 the Iraqi army
collapsed and fled in the face of IS advances. The government of Prime
Minister Haider al-Abadi turned to Washington and Peshmerga fighters
from the Kurdish Regional Government, and to Shiite militias, including
many led by Tehran, to help retake control of the country.
Thousands of young men from the south volunteered to join those
militias, with an estimated 8,000 being killed in the three-year
conflict. Those returning from the war confront a lack of jobs and the
complete failure of the government to ensure crucial energy and water
supplies.
At the same time, the dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, backed
by Moscow’s air power and ground troops from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard
and its ally Hezbollah, have launched an offensive aimed at taking Idlib
province, the last significant stronghold of opposition forces. Against
mounting pressure from Washington and Israel, the propertied rulers in
Iran are pressing to consolidate their influence in both Syria and Iraq.
Since sharply contested Iraqi elections in May, no party has been able
to pull together a majority to rule. The largest vote getter was Shiite
cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, long an outspoken critic of Washington’s
intervention in Iraq, but today an ally of the U.S. rulers and Abadi.
The opposition bloc is led by former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and
other factions with close ties to Iran, led by paramilitary leader Hadi
al-Amiri.
As part of the effort to blunt Tehran’s influence, Washington is pushing
both Sunni and Kurdish representatives to join Sadr and Abadi’s
coalition, giving them a majority.
Since July 8, demonstrations in Iraq have targeted Tehran’s military and
political intervention and the frequent electrical outages,
unemployment, and the lack of safe drinking water in Basra, other
southern provinces, and in Baghdad. The actions began after the Iranian
government cut electrical supplies to Iraq. In addition, some 30,000
people have been hospitalized in Basra after drinking polluted water.
At least 10 people have been killed during protests in Basra since Sept.
3. “Security forces have been using tear gas and live ammunition to
break us up, but that is making us more adamant to continue,” protester
Nabil al-Assadi told Al Jazeera.
On Sept. 6 demonstrations shut down Umm Qasr, Iraq’s only large sea
port, less than 40 miles south of Basra. The port handles the vast
majority of Iraq’s imports, including much of its food supply. The
Iranian consulate in Basra was attacked Sept. 7 by crowds chanting “Iran
out, out, Basra remains free.”
The roots of the Iranian rulers’ intervention in Iraq lie in the
counterrevolution they carried out to turn back the gains made by
working people and the oppressed during the 1979 revolution that
overthrew the U.S.-backed shah of Iran.
The cleric-led capitalist regime sought to consolidate its
counterrevolution at home by extending it abroad, deploying its forces
across the Mideast. It put together a substantial Hezbollah fighting
force in Lebanon that has become part of the government there.
Tehran-backed militias are seeking to extend their sway inside Iraq. The
Iranian government has provided them with short-range ballistic missiles
and launchers. Their members have fought under the command of the
Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah in Syria, as part of the
Iranian rulers’ efforts to bolster the al-Assad regime and extend their
own reach.
And the Iranian military launched a precision missile attack into Iraq
Sept. 8, targeting exile Iranian Kurdish fighters meeting in Koya.
Washington maintains 5,200 troops in Iraq, confirming in August they
would remain indefinitely, as a counter to Tehran’s influence.
Moscow, Assad mount assault on Idlib
The Assad regime and its backers in Moscow and Tehran intensified their
bombing offensive in Idlib Sept. 8. Moscow and Damascus carried out 68
airstrikes and dropped 19 barrel bombs — shells packed with explosives
intended to kill and maim the maximum number of people. The strikes
forced hundreds from their homes and hit one of the area’s hospitals.
The densely populated province is home to some 3 million people. Nearly
half of the population are recently arrived, driven from their homes
under “de-escalation” agreements with Damascus and Moscow after brutal
assaults.
Prior to the bombardment of Idlib, the governments of Russia and Iran
rejected appeals by the Turkish government to hold off its attack. Some
40 percent of the province is held by a coalition of Islamist groups
backed by Ankara. Other parts are run by a former al-Qaeda group.
The Turkish rulers fear mass flight toward the border that could add to
the some 3.5 million Syrians already in the country.
Tens of thousands of Syrians in Aleppo, Hama and Idlib joined
demonstrations against Assad and Moscow’s intervention on Sept. 7, the
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. These were the largest
public protest in Syria since the uprising against Assad’s rule in 2011
was drowned in blood by the dictatorship, opening a seven-year civil war.
The various Islamist and pro-Turkish government forces who control Idlib
have erected gallows in town centers to terrorize anyone considering
surrendering to coerce them into staying under the bombardment.
Washington, with over 2,000 troops in Syria, and significant air power
in the region, admitted recently it planned to stay. Most of the U.S.
rulers’ troops are deployed in areas controlled by the Kurdish-led
Syrian Democratic Forces, which occupies some 25 percent of the country
including much of the oil supply.
In This Issue
Front Page Articles •Demand US rulers sign peace treaty with NKorea
•‘Workers need independence from capitalist state, parties’
•Iraq protests demand gov’t provide services, end to Tehran interference
•Liberals’ frenzy against Trump falters in face of workers’ distaste
•Join fight against prison censorship of ‘Militant’ in Florida, Illinois!
Feature Articles •Mexico election registers crisis for capitalist
rulers, parties
Also In This Issue •Steelworkers authorize strikes at U.S. Steel amid
contract talks
•‘Convict Chicago cop who killed Laquan McDonald’
•Workers at Whole Foods, Target take steps to organize
•Sankara books welcomed at NY Burkina Faso festival
•Kentucky UFCW workers strike at Four Roses plants
Editorials •Decay of US rulers ‘world order’ opens room to fight
On the Picket Line •Chicago hotel workers fight for health care, higher
wages
•Miami airport workers rally, press for union contract
Books of the Month •‘First years of Communist Party heroic part of our
continuity’
As I See It •Gangs, drugs and violence are built into capitalist rule
25, 50 and 75 years ago
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