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From the Editors
The US government’s assassination of Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani and a top Iraqi paramilitary commander in Baghdad was in part calculated to provoke Iran into going to war with the US. It was also intended to derail the peace mission that Soleimani was involved in; he was helping Iraq act as a mediator between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
After Iran fired missiles in response, the shooting died down, but the situation has not really de-escalated. The US has imposed more economic sanctions on Iran, a form of warfare. Iran and other governments have demanded that all US forces leave the region. And though the Iraqi parliament voted for US forces to leave Iraq, the US is defying the Iraqi people and staying.
US foreign policy is set by the richest 1% who dominate our country. US involvement in the Middle East has nothing to do with stopping terrorism. It has to do with who will control the region’s oil. It has to do with maintaining the dollar as the currency for world trade, especially the oil trade. It has to do with blocking Russia and China’s plans for a vast Eurasian market. It has to do with who will profit from selling Middle Eastern natural gas to Europe.
Russia and China have emerged as global competitors to the 1% in the US. To block Russia and China from dominating the Middle East, the US strategy has been to promote chaos and division in the region, break up countries like Iraq and Syria, get control of Iran, and keep control of Saudi Arabia. Because of its oil and its location, Iran is strategically important. The economic interests of America’s ruling billionaires are compelling them along the path of war.
A US war with Iran would not be easy and would kill many people on both sides. It could also draw in the Russians and Chinese and escalate into a nuclear war that would destroy the world.
We, the American people, have to stop this madness before it goes any further. People have already stood up to resist the drive toward a global catastrophe, and this must continue. We are responsible, because it is our government that is pushing humanity toward another world war. Our troops need to come home. Our government should be using diplomacy to promote peace and stability and stop dragging the world toward war. The trillions of dollars being spent on war should be spent on human needs.
The vast majority of the world’s people have no reason to fight each other. There is plenty to go around. We can share the world. America can and must be a force for peace. We, the people, have to make that happen.
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Cut the military budget
Military spending makes up two-thirds of the US federal budget, and it could soon become three-quarters of the budget. The $1trillion US military budget today is bigger than the next seven largest military budgets of other countries combined. An estimated one-fourth of the US military budget would eliminate poverty in the US, and to eliminate poverty worldwide would cost only about 10 percent of world military spending. — The Editors
