Stop the Airstrikes! U.S. Out of the Middle East!

The U.S. military launched air strikes against two organizations in Syria this Thursday, Kata'ib Hezbollah and Kata'ib Sayyid al Shuhada.  Both organizations are Shia based Iraqi militias that are in Syria supporting the Assad government in that country’s civil war.  The U.S. government claims that the two militias are backed by the government of Iran, and that they were attacked as retaliation for a number of recent rocket attacks against U.S. military bases in Iraq.  Ironically, the U.S. military is in Iraq officially to help in the fight against ISIS, which is the same official reason Kata'ib Hezbollah and Kata'ib Sayyid al Shuhada are in Syria.

As far as is publicly known at least, these are the first air strikes that have been ordered by the U.S. since Joe Biden became president.  And according to mainstream media reports, Biden personally ordered these strikes.  They come on the heels a series of similar strikes that had been carried out by the Trump administration in retaliation against rocket attacks and mass protests against the continued U.S. presence there.  In both cases we feel it is important to denounce them, and to demand that the United States withdraw all of its military forces from the region.  The best defense against rocket attacks on U.S. military bases, is to close them, period. 

The continued U.S. military presence in the region, and these eruptions of air strikes every couple of months, is part of the ongoing efforts by Washington to force its will upon the peoples of the region.  It is part of a campaign to control the flow of oil from the Middle East, to limit the choices that the peoples of the region have in the type of governments and movements that are allowed, and to make sure that U.S. investments are protected.  None of these are legitimate reasons that should be supported.  It is high time that the U.S. respect the right of the peoples of this region to self-determination.  In fact it is imperialism’s years and years of invasions and occupations that has resulted in the rise of such onerous movements as ISIS.   Rather than be a force for good, imperialist interventions in the region have left hundreds of thousands dead, living standards have plummeted, and the day to day reality for most working people in the region is far worse than it was before.

We call on all working people in this country to reject Washington’s air strikes and continued military presence in this region, regardless of whether they are carried out by a Republican or Democratic administration.   Enough is enough!  Bring the troops home now, and lets end these senseless wars once and for all!

>> The article above was written by the editors of the Northwoods Worker.