Mounting obstacles
US plan to attack Iraq faces growing international anti-war movement
US imperialism persists in its arrogant disregard for widespread resistance from the people and the majority of the world's countries to its plans of attacking and occupying Iraq. It has become even more desperate in the face of growing opposition and its further isolation along with its few cohorts.
More than 310,000 US troops have been surrounding Iraq since February. The United Kingdom has deployed up to 40,000 troops to assist the American soldiers. Most of these forces are now along the Kuwaiti border training their guns at the Iraqi city of Basra. The 10,000 US forces stationed in Afghanistan are also poised to join the impending strike. Aside from a number of key military units, the US has now completed its arsenal in the Middle East.
The US nonetheless faces new obstacles. On March 1, the US failed in its bid to have the Turkish parliament approve basing rights for US forces in the southern part of the country due to widespread protests by the Turkish people. The US had planned to deploy 62,000 American troops, 255 warplanes and 65 helicopters in Turkey for its anti-Iraq offensive.
The use of Turkey would have posed a big advantage as this would have divided the Iraqi forces by forcing them to defend both the north and south, with Turkey serving as a launching pad from the north and Kuwait (and Qatar) serving as launching pads from the south. But with Turkey's refusal to allow attacks from its territory, the US will now be obliged to shift plans by launching an attack from the Black Sea (north of Turkey) or use still other means.
Prior to this, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) had refused to give military support to Turkey. Germany, Belgium and France led in denying a US request to send additional military equipment and aid to Turkey in preparation for any counter-strike from Iraq.
Along with the US' failure in Turkey, even the League of Arab States (Arab League) has been forced to declare a complete repudiation of any act of aggression against Iraq. The Arab League is composed of 22 countries surrounding Iraq.
In spite of this, US military planes continue to bomb important facilities in southern Iraq. The US continues to brag that it will push through with its war of aggression against Iraq with our without UN support.
Rifts among imperialist countries
US imperialism's arrogance and unilateralism have deepened rifts among imperialist countries and the isolation of the most rabid warmongers and war supporters. The world's countries are now divided between the few who compose the tenuous pro-US alliance�the United Kingdom, Australia and Spain and some puppet states they control�and the overwhelming majority of countries opposed to the war.
The US' obstinacy in attacking Iraq has thoroughly exposed the grave contradictions and the US' extreme isolation even within international institutions set up to serve as mere conduits of imperialist policies.
On March 7, the US is set to file a resolution that judges Iraq to have violated UN regulations regarding the manufacture and maintenance of weapons of mass destruction, a condition it wishes to use to legalize the attack on Iraq. The majority of countries have expressed their opposition to the resolution even before its formal filing, especially as the weapons inspection team does not support the US' assessment.
The majority of small and underdeveloped countries have also been crying out their opposition to the way US imperialism has been arrogantly throwing its weight around and fomenting war. During the 13th conference of the Non-aligned Movement (NAM) on February 24-25, NAM's 116 member countries united and signed a resolution against the US war on Iraq. In NAM's view, the US' objective in waging war on Iraq is to further its domination of the world. They now consider the US as the biggest threat to the majority underdeveloped countries.
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