U.S. THREATENS SYRIA & IRAN: PROTEST GROWS IN ARAB WORLD

By Richard Becker

The corporate media's coverage of the U.S. war on Iraq goes way beyond
what is generally termed propaganda. They have created an "alternative
reality" for their U.S. viewers.

In their fabricated "reality," there is on one side an evil demon, a
"new Hitler," who plans to dominate the world, spread terror and crush
freedom at home and abroad. Never mind that the "new Hitler" has no
navy, no real air force, no long-range missiles and an atrophied
industrial base.

On the other side is "Freedom-loving America," supported by "Democratic
Britain," riding to the rescue, bringing liberation, protecting civilian
life and Iraq's oil wealth from the demon, in order to usher in a new
era of freedom and democracy for the people of Iraq and the entire
Middle East.

"Invaders" should never be used to refer to the U.S./British troops. And
never, never call their cruise missiles and 5,000 pound bombs "weapons
of mass destruction."

A "cowardly terrorist" is someone who sacrifices his or her life
fighting the invad ers, oops, liberators. Civilians fighting to defend
their homeland without proper uniforms are committing "war crimes."

True courage consists of sitting in a submarine hundreds of miles away,
or in a B-52 at 35,000 feet--high above the other side's anti-aircraft
range--and firing cruise missiles into populated areas.

This is the science fiction movie running on eight networks, 24/7 in the
United States. Because it is so pervasive, it has an influence on the
population here.

But it doesn't play in the Middle East. With the exception of the royal
families and other U.S. clients and hangers-on in the area, virtually
the entire population is vehemently opposed to the war.

There, the war is seen plainly and simply as an imperialist invasion of
Iraq by two "great" powers--"great" only in their violence, as V.I.
Lenin once said--who have dominated the region for the past half-century
and more.

It is universally viewed as a war not only against Iraq, but against all
the Arab and other oppressed peoples of the Middle East.

WAR TO DOMINATE OIL WEALTH

As is well-known by every Iraqi schoolchild, Britain was the colonizer
of Iraq from 1918 until the revolution of 1958, during which time it
shared-out Iraq's oil wealth with U.S., French and Dutch oil companies.
Iraq owned 0 percent of its petroleum reserves then.

Above all, the war is viewed as an attempt to "liberate" Iraq from
control of its oil resources as well as its independence, and to restore
its pre-1958 colonial status. Equally widespread is the perception that
if successful, the U.S./British "coalition" would then move on to
"restructure" the entire region along the same lines.

The militant and growing demonstrations throughout the Arab and Islamic
world are fueled by this mass understanding of the real motivation
behind the war on Iraq.

Protests have swept across Lebanon, Morocco, Iran, Yemen, Bahrain,
Turkey and elsewhere. The repressive Egyptian and Jordanian regimes,
both of which are heavily supported and dependent on Washington for
their survival, have taken actions designed both to suppress and co-opt
the wave of protest.

Angry demonstrations on March 22 in Cairo, capital of the largest of the
Arab countries, were brutally attacked by the U.S.-supplied Egyptian
police. Many organizers, including a progressive opposition member of
parliament, were severely beaten and imprisoned. Accord ing to many news
reports, the demonstrations were the most militant in recent times.

Given the intensity of the anger in the country, the government of
President Hosni Mubarak couldn't completely stop the protests. A week
later, on March 29, the authorities allowed the outlawed, right-wing
Muslim Brotherhood to lead a march through Cairo, with the Brother hood
agreeing to keep the protesters under control.

Egypt's second-largest newspaper, Al Akhbar, carried a typical headline
on March 28: "A total war of genocide against Iraqis."

Other newspapers in the region, most of them generally considered
moderate in their political views, carried similar headlines. "Monstrous
martyrdom in Baghdad" read the front-page of Al-Dustur of Amman,
Jordan, on March 29, the day after a U.S. missile killed at least 58
Iraqis in a Baghdad market.

"Yet another massacre by the coalition of invaders," was the main
headline on Saudi Arabia's al-Riyadh newspaper. Summer Said, a
journalist for the pro-Western Cairo Times, an English- language news
magazine, told the March 30 Washington Post: "I thought at first, okay,
maybe it isn't a war for oil. Maybe America does want to help. Now it's
genocide to me. Is the American government trying to exterminate the
Arabs?"

PROTESTS IN SYRIA AND PALESTINE

Among the largest and most militant demonstrations have taken place in
Syria and the occupied Palestinian West Bank and Gaza. On March 28, tens
of thousands of Palestinians marched in what was called "the biggest
show of support ever for Iraq." In Hebron, marchers burned a mock coffin
inscribed with the names of Arab leaders who have "betrayed Iraq."
Similar demonstrations have taken place in Palestinian refugee camps in
Lebanon and Jordan.

Hundreds of Palestinians, mostly residents of these same camps, have
traveled to Iraq to join the fight against the U.S./ British invaders.
So too have at least 5,000 Iraqis who live outside the country, most of
whom have made the dangerous trip overland by bus from Jordan and Syria.

Many more Iraqis have entered Iraq than have left as refugees, despite
the intense U.S. bombing campaign. A refugee camp at Ruweished, Jordan,
just across the border from Iraq, remains almost empty, despite the pre-
war anticipation that it would be overwhelmed with fleeing Iraqis.

Syria has also seen its largest demonstrations in recent history. On
March 26, following a U.S. missile strike on a Syrian bus inside Iraq
that killed five people and wounded 15 more, some 200,000 marched in the
capital, Damascus.

In recent days, Secretary of "Defense" Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of
State Colin Powell have threatened Syria, which shares a long border
with Iraq, for alleg edly "meddling" in the war and supporting Iraq.
Both Rumsfeld and Powell have also made menacing gestures toward Iran,
another of Iraq's neighbors.

Syrian President Bashar Assad told the Lebanese paper As-Safir on March
27, "We will not wait until we become the next target."

The Syrian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on March 31: "Syria
chooses to be with international official and popular consensus that
says: 'No to the aggression against Iraq; no to the bombing of cities
and the killing of people.' Syria also chose to side with the brotherly
Iraqi people who are facing an illegitimate and unjustifiable invasion."

Powell's menacing words, in a speech to American Israel Public Affairs
Committee (AIPAC), the leading pro-Israel lobbying group in the U.S.,
made it clear that "next target" may be exactly how Washington views
Syria.

"Syria now faces a critical choice," said Powell on March 31. "Syria can
continue direct support for terrorist groups and the dying regime of
Saddam Hussein, or it can embark on a different and more hopeful course.
... Either way, Syria bears the responsibility for its choices, and for
the consequences."

But Syria also had a warning for the United States, though one very
different from Powell's threat.

Syrian Information Minister Adnan Omran, in a March 25 interview with
the Toronto Star, predicted that the U.S. faced a future filled with
resistance. "In Baghdad, they will find themselves facing daggers drawn
from every corner. It will be a small-scale Vietnam. Small cuts will be
made day after day and week after week until the Americans are gone.

"It is incredible that George Bush has been deceived by his advisers
into believing he is poised for victory," Omran said.

"This advice is based on the most stupid calculations ever made of the
social dynamic in Iraq."


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