Rally against the US invasion of Iraq and advance our anti-imperialist unity

Fr. Santiago "Sanny" Salas
Spokesperson in Eastern Visayas
National Democratic Front of the Philippines
April 04, 2003

Despite the weight of world opinion against US militarism, Iraq is now being devastated by a US-led war of aggression that began last March 19. In a cowardly show of superiority, US and British warplanes are bombarding Baghdad and other key Iraqi cities to bully the Iraqi people into submission. To the dismay of the US, British and Australian warring troika, the Iraqis are resisting patriotically and proving that they will never be completely subjugated. Anti-war and anti-imperialist mobilizations are surging worldwide even in the US and increasingly isolating the imperialist belligerents.

The brutality inflicted on Iraq by high-tech warfare goes to show that US imperialism is the real and super terrorist and greatest threat to world peace. The September 11 terrorist attack in the US has been far exceeded by the suffering and destruction of an entire country. It is outrageous for the people to see the sheer cynicism of the US in destroying Iraq with one hand and then offering aid and reconstruction with the other as the terms of its occupation. The unjustness of the war is underscored by the selfish benefits it serve to the US oil monopolists and military-industrial complex.

The current US war of aggression in Iraq recoils on the people of Eastern Visayas in terms of political and economic repercussions on the Philippines. We are suffering the grips of economic crisis that can only worsen because of the turmoil in the Middle East. The lives and welfare of our friends and relatives who are among 1.4 million Filipinos working abroad in that region are also in danger. We should also realize that the pro-war and puppet Arroyo regime are inviting US military intervention against the Filipino people, thus putting the Philippines on the same track as Iraq.

It is timely for us to continue the protest movement against the US war of aggression in Iraq in anti-war and anti-imperialist struggles. We must mobilize against US imperialist bellicosity disguised as a war on terrorism and uphold the national sovereignty and freedom of others as well as our own. We must strengthen and advance our unity against US imperialism and its die-hard puppet in the Arroyo regime. Our rising armed struggle and mass movement target the overthrow of the corrupt and puppet regimes like the present one and the downfall of US imperialist hegemony in the long run.

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