SNAFU Statement on the Phony "Transfer of Power"

June 28, 2004--SNAFU- the Support Network for a Armed Forces Unions, is an organization of veterans, students, and activists who support military resisters, provide discharge counseling, and engage in counter-recruiting. www.join-snafu.org

Today, Monday, June 28, the corporate media is trumpeting the "transfer of power" in Iraq to the new new "sovereign" government of US-selectedPrime Minister Iyad Allawi.

This phony handover of power does not give the Iraq people an ounce of actual sovereignty. It is actually designed to do the opposite--to legitimize the U.S. military and corporate occupation while hiding it under a facade of independence.

The occupation will continue. More than 130,000 U.S. troops and 20,000 coalition troops will reamain in the country. The new Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi, will have no authority over these occupying troops.

More troops may even be on the way. On June 23, the Baltimore Sun reported that the U.S. Central Command "has informally asked Army planners for up to five more brigades -- about 25,000 troops -- to augment the American force of 138,000 soldiers and Marines now in Iraq." The June 15 UN Resolution legitimizes U.S. control, declaring that the U.S.-controlled multinational force will be given "the authority to take all necessary measures" to maintain order.

The U.S. will also retain control over much of Iraq's economy. While he was the colonial governor, Paul Bremer issued an order allowing for 100% foreign ownership of Iraq businesses and privitizing state-owned enterprises. The order also gives U.S. corporations the ability to take profits made in Iraq out of the country, without taxes. The Provisional Authority has given billions of dollars in oil contracts to U.S. and British companies. None of the multi-million dollar contracts given by Bremer to companies like Halliburton and Bechtel can be cancelled by the new "sovereign" government.  

On May 13, the Wall Street Journal assured its readers, "The new Iraqi government will have little control over its armed forces, lack the ability to make or change laws and be unable to make major decisions within specific ministries without tacit U.S. approval."

In the same article, the Journal also revealed that the U.S. will continue to exercise control over the media in Iraq: " the authority to license Iraq's television stations, sanction newspapers and regulate cell phone companies was recently transferred to a commission whose members were selected by Washington. The commissioners' five-year terms stretch far beyond the planned 18-month tenure of the interim Iraqi government that will assume sovereignty on June 30."

The only real transfer of power was from the former colonial governor, Paul Bremer, to the new colonial governor, John Negroponte, who will govern Iraq from the world's largest embassy, housed in the Republic Palace, with a staff of more than 3,000, protected by high concrete walls, barbed wires and an occupying force of more than 130,000 including several thousand foreign mercenaries armed to the teeth with the most violent tools. The Pentagon has made it clear that these troops will be there for at least 5 years. Documents written by the Project for a New American Century call for US troops to be in the region permanently.

Washington's New Enforcer

Who is John Negroponte, the new Ambassador and de-facto colonial governor of Iraq?  

His record, which includes torture, assassinations, and systematic human rights violations, makes him uniquely qualified to be the Empire's new enforcer in Iraq.

John Negroponte was ambassador to Honduras from 1981-1985. As such he supported and carried out a US-sponsored policy of violations of human rights and international law. He supervised the creation of the El Aguacate air base, which was used as a training base for Nicaraguan Contras. This base was also used as a secret prison camp, where US-trained thugs secretly detained, tortured, and executed suspected Honduran dissidents.

In addition to his work with the Nicaraguan Contra army, Negroponte helped conceal from Congress the murder, kidnapping and torture abuses of a CIA-equipped and -trained Honduran military unit, Battalion 3-16.

In 1994, the Honduran Human Rights Commission charged Negroponte personally with several human rights abuses.

This is the man that the Bush Administration has placed in charge of the the brutal occupation.

Window-dressing Colonialism

The U.S. government hopes the phony turnover will quell the popular uprising within Iraq to the colonial occupation and persuade some elements within the opposition to cut a deal with the new regime. Bush hopes that by putting an Iraqi front on the occupation, he can deceive the Iraqi people about the true nature of this neocolonial venture.

The "handover" also targets U.S. public opinion--to bolster the lie that the war and occupation were about "liberation" and "democracy." The Administration will try to portray the resistance as being the work of isolated "terrorists" who oppose "law and order."

Resistance Continues

No theatrics, no phony turnover can change the fact that the Iraqi people are overwhelmingly opposed to the presence of the U.S. occupation. A recent poll found that 92% of Iraqis see the troops as "occupiers," not liberators.

The resistance is not the work of a few isolated malcontents. It is a united, popular uprising of Sunni, Shia, Christians, and others fighting to liberate their country from a foreign invader. The U.S. has waged two bloody wars against the people of Iraq and used sanctions to kill hundreds of thousands. The Iraqi people will not forget the U.S. crimes against them, and they will not be fooled by attempt to cover up the looting of their land and wealth. They are rising up all over Iraq, with increased skill, organization, and determination.  

The charade of the turnover cannot change one basic fact: The occupation is failing. The U.S. military machine, the largest, most expensive killing machine in history cannot destroy the desire of a people to live free