Greens and Socialists Unite to Oppose War

CNSNews.com Commentary from the National Anxiety Center ^ | April 01, 2003 | Alan Caruba

[Stand Watch Listen]

Largely unreported in the mainstream press of America is the unified opposition to the war for regime change in Iraq from both the Greens and worldwide Socialists. The same person could have written their public statements for the way they mirror one another. This only serves to underscore what observers of these political groups have long known; the Greens are merely another element of Socialist opposition to Capitalism.

In September of last year, the Green Party of the United States issued a statement, declaring their opposition to the invasion of Iraq. Under the aegis of the United Nations which authorized the expulsion of Iraq from Kuwait, the pilots of the US and allied nations have been repeatedly attacked while guarding the "no-fly zones." In the twelve years that have passed since then, Iraq has ignored seventeen UN resolutions to disarm and threw out the UN inspectors until forced to let them return.

There has been zero evidence that Iraq has ever ceased its efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction, but according to Tod Sloan, co-chair of the party's International committee, "If President Bush and Congress truly care about the security of the US, they will work with the United Nations to address any threat by Iraq through peaceful, diplomatic means."

The Greens/Green Party USA, a separate group, is even more vociferous in its condemnation of the conflict. "Greens throughout the world condemn the US government'' trampling on human rights and international law to kill thousands of innocent Iraqis, for the sake of oil and imperial design." It called for "a worldwide consumer boycott of selected corporations. Already, international boycotts against Coca-Cola, McDonald's, and other US companies are underway." The notion that Coca-Cola or McDonald's are the enemy, along with all other US multinational corporations is a definition of the Socialist point of view.

The World Socialists and Socialist Equality Party sponsored a conference this passed weekend on the subject of "Socialism and the Struggle Against Imperialism and War: the Strategy and Program of a New International Working Class Movement." If Karl Marx, Lenin, and Stalin weren't dead, you could bet they would all be keynote speakers. So far as the World Socialists are concerned, the war's purpose is to "plunder and colonize Iraq." Nary a word of criticism for Saddam Hussein.

The Democratic Socialists of the USA, in March, chimed in with a statement by Frank Llewellyn, its national director. "This war and those that could well follow it do not flow from any direct threat to the United States." Apparently 9-11 has slipped his mind. "Bush's war is a political war in favor of a new ideological doctrine of imperial dominance." The Red Chinese could not have said it better.

Naturally, Llewellyn believes that "the peace movement should agitate for United Nations' and not United States' administration of post-war Iraqi economic and military reconstruction." We all know what a terrific job the UN has done to contain and eliminate Saddam's aggressive instincts. Finally, Llewellyn states that "The unilateral attack on Iraq is part and parcel of the Reagan-Bush worldview that conceives of the United States as the sole force for good in the world."

There hasn't been a single word from the self-appointed environmentalists concerning the enormous environmental damage Saddam authorized in the Gulf War, setting Kuwaiti oil fields ablaze and dumping thousands of gallons of oil into the Persian Gulf. There is still no word about his latest effort to set Iraqi oil fields ablaze. There isn't a word about the brutal oppression of the Iraqi people, nor the billions of dollars Saddam personally siphoned from Iraq's economy.

So Greenpeace, the National Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club and the vast matrix of environmental organizations have all revealed themselves to be Socialists/Communists at heart.

They are a movement whose purpose is to undermine the economy of this nation by pressing for legislation that:

- Opposes US access vast oil reserves in Alaska;
- Bans pesticides to protect the health of Americans and herbicides to protect our food crops;
- Hopes to ban ranchers from traditional access to government lands for grazing;
- Uses "endangered species" to bankrupt the farmers of the Klamath Valley;
- Uses "endangered species" to re-introduce predator species throughout the West;
- Seeks to limit the mining industry from extracting natural resources;
- Seeks to keep the timber industry from helping manage our national forests;
- Is acquiring huge amounts of privately owned property to put it off limits to any use.
- Opposes any use of so-called "fossil fuels" and would limit the individual choice and use of automobiles, SUVs, trucks and off-road vehicles.
- Uses "environmental" laws to thwart the proper training of our armed forces on bases throughout the US.

There is hardly any element of our economy that hasn't been under attack by these "environmentalists." The immediate enemy is Iraq. The other enemy is the environmentalists for whom Socialism/Communism is the guiding agenda behind their varied agendas.

[Carry_Okie]

Wait, how did they do this? By diverting votes away from Gore in the last election, thereby getting Bush elected? Is this an indirect criticism of Bush?

Oh it's a long, complex, and dirty story on both sides of the aisle. Restricting access to resources using regulatory power is a process that has progressed for over thirty years, acelerating since the collapse of the Brettonwoods agreement. At that time, Nixon offered the mineral estate of the United States as collateral for the Federal debt. The Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, NEPA, the Clean Air Act, were all passed immediately pursuant to that deal. Since then, environmental law and the has been used to sequester those resorces, whether for purposes of manipulating market prices or putting competitors out of business.

The system is basically racketeering on a massive scale. The creditors use their tax-exempt "charitable" foundations to fund NGOs to sue the feds to invoke the statutes on a selective basis. The game centers on using regulatory power to shut down domestic production of competitors and to increase the profits on foreign investments via the resulting artificial shortage. Consider how hard Rockefeller's boy, Jimmy Carter, worked to shut down nuclear power plant construction. What resulted was more oil importation. Create more wilderness areas, monuments, or offshore sanctuaries and domestic oil production comes to a screeching halt.

The manifestations are so numerous as to boggle the mind.

[lurky]

Thanks. Very interesting. If you could point me to more resources, websites or books about this, I would greatly appreciate it.

[k2blader]

*LOL*

[Carry_Okie]

Three books:

For a good understanding of the players, the game, and the money, try Undue Influence by Ron Arnold.

To see how the policy doesn't work in an urban environment, try The Vanishing Automobile and Other Urban Myths by Randal O'Toole.

To see how the policy doesn't work in a natural environment, why it works the way it does, and how to fix it, try Natural Process: That Environmental Laws May Serve the Laws of Nature by... me.

[lurky]

Thanks again, and congratulations on your book.

[Carry_Okie]

You are quite welcome.