Al-Ghad

Statement of the Iraqi Communist Party (ICP) (Central Leadership)

Al- Ghad has the pleasure to publish the following statement which it received from the Iraqi Communist Party (ICP) (Central Leadership) as a contribution to a national dialogue which enriches the good efforts to establish a national coalition which encompasses all the strands of the Iraqi people, to salvage Iraq from the blind alley Into which the U.S. occupation has landed.

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Whither Iraq? A question which worries everyone and is repeated by everyone. It is a question set forth by the Iraqi political forces.. nay it is set forth by the occupier and the whole world. Why? And what is the way out of this predicament? Which captured everyone: the people in all their strands, the Iraqi political forces and the occupation. This question and the questions related to it demand a rational discussion and not escape or ready- made recipes. That is why we want to discuss the problem in its entirety before setting forth any solutions.

* The first aspect of the problem is that the Iraqi people were left hanging in the air: without jobs, without the means for livelihood, without energy to protect them from severe cold or scorching heat… Without a clear future for their sons and daughters… without…without… During nearly one year of brute occupation, and after a whole generation under a crazy ruler, who was installed and protected by same occupier, an occupier which became afraid of the Iraqi cities and started to entrench itself in bases it reckons to be safe, but may not be so.

* The second aspect of the question concerns the political forces. They are two groups. One which opposed the occupation and shared the people their concerns. And a group which came with the occupier, or agreed to have a sham sharing of power with him, and actual sharing of the plundered riches and suppressed rights. But it found that the occupier does not trust it and announced, through the Nov 15 Agreement, the occupier intention to disband the Interim Governing Council and replace it by more obedient caucuses from the tribal sheikhs and new followers. But the people were not deceived by that naive game, this was reflected in the rebellion of the tame Governing Council. The outcome was the disintegration of the texture of that agreement and the beginning of the operation of patching up and picking the pieces, the invitation to the U.N. to provide the suitable cover to gain time during the election campaign and to secure a phased U.S withdrawal which grows more likely with each passing day. If there was any doubt about this conception, it has withered away after the approval by the Governing Council of the State Administration Law (= 15 Nov. Agreement) which the occupier had drafted but was forced to back out from its most important contents.

A quick reading of the amended text of the that law which was published in Al- Sabah daily (29-2-2004) that belongs to the occupation forces, shows that the most sensitive points such as the U.N. prerogatives, the security agreement, the military bases, the rights and powers of Kurdistan, the powers of the proposed government and other points were either overlooked, postponed or deleted. On the other hand a promise was made to the Governing Council that it will be a party to, or may be a temporary legate in forming the new government (with full sovereignty) on 30 June.

Article two (c) stipulates:

“This government shall be formed following a large-scale process of deliberation to be facilitated by the U.N. and conducted by the governing council and the CPA with the Iraqi people. This government shall exercise power by an annex to be agreed upon and issued before the beginning of the transitional period and shall be an integral part of this law”.

This means that basic articles in the Nov. 15 Agreement have been abolished without defining their substitutes. The postponement of major issues in to annexes whom no body knows who will approve, gives the impression that the whole process is now at stake. But nevertheless the occupier will try to transfer power to an enlarged or modified council in order to entrust his own security with Iraqi security forces which might lead the Iraqis to fight each other in order to protect the occupier.

AS far as the occupier is concerned the question is so valid that the U.S. government comments of the whole American press, on the Iraqi situation. It had set up a government agency with a special budget to prettify the U.S. policy in Iraq. some of the reasons for this are apart from what we have mentioned. The international situation has changed not in favour of the U.S. diplomacy especially in some neighbouring countries of Iraq. Irrespective of what may be the meaning of the recent Iranian elections for the democratic process in Iran, the outcome of those election was a powerful message to the U.S. circles that Iran is fully prepared for the military and political confrontation with Washington. To confirm the meaning of this message, the former Iranian president Rafsanjani announced in an interview with the Iranian paper Keyhan that the U.S.A. is now fully submerged in the Iraqi quagmire and she knows fully well that Iran can aggravate the American’s problems, hinting at the U.S. threats regarding the Iranian nuclear facilities. Matters did not stop at the press threats. The Iranian defence minister Ali Shamkhani went a few days ago to Lebanon and Syria to have talks with his Lebanese counter- part on a joint defence agreement. After announcing the agreement the Iranian minister declared in Beirut that from now on Sharon had to face three states: Iran, Syria and Lebanon if he embarked on a new adventure.

A Washington post commentator remarked on Rasanjani’s statements: “anyone in the White House who imagines that the Iranians are panic- stricken from the presence of more than 100.000 U.S. soldiers in Iraq is in fact wrong and has not read the reports well. The U.S. is an open target which can be easily stabbed”. The failure of the imperialist dream in Iraq has become an established fact which must be considered as a big factor behind the developments of the current political situation. The latest evidence in this is the flight of the leaders of the neo - conservatives. Richard Perle has tendered his resignation (27-2) from the Defence Policy Council saying he did not want his opinions to be attributed to president Bush during the U.S. presidential elections. Richard Perle had worked in the Defence Policy Council at the Pentagon for 17 years. Before that he was deputy defence secretary under Reagan. He is the biggest theoretician of Iraq’s invasion, as a profound study in 3rd issue of al-Ghad had revealed.

What do conclude from the above? Briefly, we can sum up the matter as follows, the U.S. industrial military complex had seen an historical opportunity after the cold war. It had inherited vast destructive powers and greater expansionist appetite.. an appetite which blinded them from seeing facts which even kids cannot miss. It imagined there was before it a world ready for domination and occupation. This opportunity rose before it during the Kuwait war which was rigged up by the U.S. But Bush senior. failed in the elections and the dream evaporated alongside with him of perpetuating a ruling dynasty from the Bush family. But the dreams of the military- complex remained alive and was renewed with the presidency of Bush junior. The new president tried his luck with China - the strongest survivor - with an air provocation but it failed ignominiously. The said complex turned its eyes to the horizon and found nothing weaker and more precious than Iraq: a loathsome regime and hungry people longing for salvation. A ripe fruit which nothing to pick but a stage- play to market a quick invasion that should be as speedy as lightning. Indeed it occupied Baghdad, and after few hours it discovered that the Iraqis had not received them with flowers and laurels. After some weeks the truth became obvious: while the Iraqi people loathe Saddam’s regime they did not want to replace one tyrant by another. Then the losses mounted in its forces in Iraq. The country was paralysed because of the power outages and the fuels’ crisis. Unemployment became rampant hitting 70% of manpower. The human losses mounted and military spendings doubled to reach $ 1bn per week. The dream of the new American empire turned into what a famed U.S. commentator called it “a black hole” which swallows everything that gets near it, including the stars.

Under this situation, what is to briefly, be done?

We maintain that the honest direct elections are the ideal solution. First because the majority of the Iraqi people wish such a solution and deem it suitable for the current exceptional circumstances. Second, the U.N. has approved this solution and confirmed the possibility of the elections at the end of this year. This pre- supposes a security council resolution to ensure holding them. Moreover a deadline not later than 31 Jan 2005, has been fixed. That is 70 r 8 months from now which is not far off.

However, the political forces within the governing council and otherwise reject such a solution on various pretexts all of which revolve round one problem, namely the fear from the victory of the religious movement if the election are held soon. we say that this is likely and if it really happens and in free honest election, then alright whoever the winner may be, Moslem be him or Christian, religious or secular.. because democracy only means the victory of the majority at fair elections. whoever refuses this, actually refuses democracy.

However, we maintain that such a logic is incorrect for reasons other than the fear from the victory of the religious forces. though we acknowledge there are exceptional circumstances facing the molding of elections in Iraq, because of the absence of a democratic experiment for generations which knew nothing but unjust governments, the correct way to handle this is not by cancelling the elections but by eliciting national solutions which guarantee putting the country on balanced steps that enjoy the support of the great majority of the Iraqi people of all constituents, and spare the country the destructive tremors.

We suggest the idea of waging the election campaign by a joint ticket embracing the largest number of the patriotic forces according to a specific program which encompasses the patriotic movements: the religious, national and secular, free from the intervention of the occupation. Such joint tickets are not alien to Iraqi parliamentary and trade unionist experiment, short as it was. The forces had waged the 1954 elections with great success which prompted Nuri Said and his masters then to dissolve the parliament, there by paved the way for the rise of the national unity and the success of the July 14 revolution. The same goes to the trade union elections after the July 14 revolution. If such abroad national coalition takes place, it will then be possible to confront the U.N. and the forces which condemned the occupation with specific demands to agree on a timetable to be approved by the U.N. security council not less than a month before the schedule of the U.S. presidential elections for the constitutional elections in Iraq before the end of this year. This should include total withdrawal of the occupation forces, the restoration of the complete and total independence and sovereignty of Iraq, and to remove any ambiguity regarding the national independence and sovereignty. They should include the removal of all military or air bases, airfields or facilities for aircraft, missile- carriers or any other means which the occupier or his collaborators may use from Iraq. It is a forgone conclusion that the signing of the security agreement stipulated in the Nov. is agreement is a clear surrender of Iraq’s national sovereignty to the occupier. It is a crime punishable by law. Such a development can secure for Iraq a brief, and relatively peaceful transitional period which grants the occupier opportunity for a gradual face-saving withdrawal which guarantees for the Iraqi people to recover their complete and total national independence and sovereignty.

The ICP (Central Leadership)

1-3-2004