AS U.S. WAR SEEMS IMMINENT: NATO COUNTRIES FEAR BEING DRAGGED IN
By John Catalinotto
The Bush administration has attempted to use the catastrophic loss of lives at the World Trade Center to both mobilize the U.S. population for war and line up traditional U.S. allies for a military strike.
Veteran right-wing cold warriors--Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and his deputy Paul Wolfowitz--have organized the forward charge. Their proposals have followed a long-term U.S. strategy established in the 1990s.
This includes: using NATO as the core of an international intervention force, a world cop. Calling on the Japanese military, which is constitutionally forbidden to intervene abroad, in a supportive role. And then, based on the experience of the Gulf War of 1991, forming a broader coalition that includes more unstable U.S. client states in the Middle East and South Asia.
As of Sept. 17, initial displays of solidarity with the U.S. government from the NATO powers have turned into warnings to the Bush administration to avoid any immediate strike and to choose the target very carefully. The big-business official media here have reported these warnings.
At home, the administration tried to channel the initial outpouring of solidarity with the victims of the attacks into patriotic and pro-war directions. More U.S. flags could be seen flying than ever in recent memory. Right wingers made sporadic attacks on Muslim, Arab or South Asian people.
Even among the stunned populous, however, voices have been raised questioning what was behind the attacks, calling for no new war moves and demanding that there be no racist attack on Arab or Muslim people here.
Many people compared the event to the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. However, there are many differences. One is that millions of youths rushed to enlist in the U.S. Armed Forces in 1941. Now, while inquiries doubled over the first few days, few additional people joined up.
Nevertheless, the U.S. military buildup continues.
Orders to call up the reserves have been approved. Rumsfeld said the 35,000-plus members of special forces like Navy Seals, Army Rangers and Green Berets and Air Force Special Tactics groups are "important to our country."
Despite all the dangers and warnings, the Bush administration is preparing for a calamitous war. In all its public statements, the administration names as the initial target of that war the Taleban regime in Afghanistan and Saudi millionaire Osama bin Laden, whom they allege was behind the strikes of Sept. 11.
Afghans have been fleeing the cities, fearing U.S. bombing raids and possible invasion.
Richard Perle, another veteran cold warrior now heading Rumsfeld's Defense Policy Board, mentioned not only Afghanistan but also Iraq as a potential target. Since Iraq sits astride enormous oil reserves, it is a much more inviting target for the big oil corporations so close to the Bush administration.
WOLFOWITZ: 'ENDING STATES'
Wolfowitz made the single most aggressive statement on Sept. 13.
"It's not just simply a matter of capturing people and holding them accountable," he said, "but removing the sanctuaries, removing the support systems, ending states who sponsor terrorism." In other words, Wolfowitz was making a direct threat that U.S. troops may be used to occupy any country Washington chooses to blame.
On Sept. 12, for the first time in NATO's 52-year history, the alliance declared that the attacks on one member--the United States--were an act of war against the entire 19- member alliance. It pledged military support for any U.S. retaliation.
This was an obviously illegal use of the NATO charter's Article 5, which refers to an attack on a NATO member by another state's military.
Wolfowitz is rumored to be the author of the so-called Pentagon White Paper published by the New York Times in March 1992. This paper set out the strategy to maintain U.S. dominance in every region of the world and to show other countries--including U.S. allies--"that they need not aspire to a greater role." NATO was to be the main instrument of U.S. domination in Europe, forcing the European imperialist powers to follow the U.S. lead.
Before and during the U.S.-led war against Yugoslavia, Washington's strategists proposed expanding NATO's role, turning it from an anti-Soviet alliance into a sort of world cop against any country or movement that resisted capitalist globalization. The aggressive war and 79-day bombing campaign against the Yugoslav people was the first such use of NATO.
The administration has also requested that Japan contribute military forces to support U.S. actions.
By Sept. 13, the Bush administration appeared to have lined up NATO and was trying to expand its support for something like the "coalition" forces that occupied Saudi Arabia and made war on Iraq in 1991. Now, however, there was a more than implied threat that any nations refusing to join the U.S.-led campaign could be considered enemies and attacked.
According to the Sept. 14 New York Times, "Secretary of State Colin L. Powell used language similar to the bellicose phrases he employed in 1991, when he said of Saddam Hussein's army in Kuwait, 'First we're going to cut it off, and then we're going to kill it.'" Powell was head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the 1991 war.
All the administration spokespeople have used terms like "war," "protracted war," "campaign" and the "wrath of the United States."
According to the Times, the so-called campaign "could involve American forces in protracted fighting against a number of Asian and African countries, like Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan and even Pakistan."
Powell more or less gave an ultimatum to the Pakistani regime that it must assist Washington in pressuring the Taleban to turn over bin Laden or it will face the possibility of itself becoming a target. After a seven-hour meeting, the ruling group of generals in Pakistan decided to go along with Powell's demands.
Bin Laden's group originated in Afghanistan among guerrillas who fought the progressive government there and the Soviet troops that government had called on for support. The Pakistan Secret Services and the Pakistan military, with funding and financing by Washington, trained them.
All U.S. threats against sovereign nations made under the excuse of hunting terrorists, all the calls for a "war" violate the Charter of the United Nations.
END OF VIETNAM SYNDROME?
Along with lining up international allies, the Bush administration has also sought to exploit the Sept. 11 tragedy to whip up patriotism and mobilize the population for war. Such a protracted war would undoubtedly produce casualties among U.S. forces, too, especially if there are land battles and an occupying army.
Since the U.S. war against Vietnam, the U.S. population has refused to support military adventures that result in extensive casualties among U.S. youths.
When 18 U.S. Marines died in Somalia in 1993-while involved in an operation that killed 1,000 Somalis--that was enough to force a pull-out of U.S. forces. The Pentagon refused to admit any casualties in the extended air campaign against Yugoslavia, and remained reluctant to intervene by land to the very end.
Pentagon generals and U.S. political leaders have chafed over this obstacle to military moves. In Gen. Wesley Clark's book "Waging Modern Warfare," he complains that he considers this a serious weakness in the U.S. armed forces and concludes it must be overcome. Clark commanded NATO forces during the assault on Yugoslavia.
The Bush crew apparently believes the anger and fear over the Sept. 11 attack gives it an opportunity to demand such sacrifices and get away with it.
As a first step, Bush won a blank check from Congress for military action. The Senate voted 98 to zero to authorize war measures, the House 420 to one. Barbara Lee of California was the only dissenter.
On Sept. 14, Bush authorized a call-up of as many as 50,000 reservists and National Guard. The Pentagon said that so far it requires 13,000 for the Air Force, 10,000 for the Army, 3,000 for the Navy, 7,500 for the Marines and 2,000 for the Coast Guard.
In the active military, the XVIII Airborne Corps headquartered at Fort Bragg, N.C., was put on alert. This corps is made up of the 82nd Airborne, the 101st Airborne, the Third Infantry Division and the 10th (Mountain) Division.
Warships in the Persian/Arabian Gulf region are reported to have begun movements and increased secrecy regarding their locations.
NERVOUS IN EUROPE
By Sept. 16, the European governments, without directly taking on Washington, were expressing second thoughts about giving the Pentagon carte blanche to lead them into some new version of the Crusades anywhere in the Middle East or Central Asia.
"The worst thing we could do would be for the West to go against the Islamic world," German Foreign Minister Joschka Fisher said. "We must not push Islam in general into the corner of terror because that would make matters worse." Fischer was a complete hawk in the NATO aggression against Yugoslavia.
French Defense Minister Alain Richard said: "Armed action is only one of the ways of responding. ... What is necessary is a way that does not provoke other elements of instability."
The strongest rebuff came from Italian Defense Minister Antonio Martino, according to a Sept. 16 French Press Agency report. Martino said: "The term 'war' is inappropriate. It is not a conflict between states and Italian troops will not go anywhere. I feel I am in a position to categorically exclude calling on the army."
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